Tension has risen in the North African country, whose “Jasmine
Revolution” inspired uprisings across the Arab world, after a former minister
warned of a possible coup by loyalists of the ousted regime if hard-liners win
elections.
Demonstrators said that even though Tunisia’s interim
administration had denounced the comments, they raised doubts over whether it
was serious about democracy. Elections are promised in July for an assembly to
draw up a new constitution.
“The people want a new revolution,” chanted protesters on
Avenue Bourguiba, at the heart of the capital Tunis, before police moved in.
Security forces beat photographers and confiscated cameras
from some as they covered the protest. They pursued protesters through side
streets, swiping at them with batons.
A common thread running through uprisings across the Arab
world sparked by the one in Tunisia has been unease among secularists and in
the West about whether democracy will open the door to hard-liners.
“We are here to demand the departure of this government,
which is dishonest,” said Sonia Briki, one of the hundreds of protesters in the
center of Tunis.
“Everything is clear now. We want them to step down so we
can have a government whose members are just at the service of the people,” she
said.
The government said it was astonished at the comments of
former interior Farhat Rajhi who said on Thursday that there could be a coup by
loyalists of President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali if hard-liners won the election.
But some Tunisians fear the government could use the threat
of a coup to derail the steps to democracy after the fall of Ben Ali, who ruled
the country of 10 million for 23 years and never held meaningful elections.
Tunisia’s interim rulers have said senior members of Ben Ali’s
party and entourage will be barred from the elections, but that has not allayed
fears they may still meddle in the political process.
