Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Green Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Summits
Business Video
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
Afghan Journal
Africa Journal
India Insight
Global News Journal
Pakistan: Now or Never?
World Video
Politics
Politics Home
Front Row Washington
Politics Video
Technology
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
Breakingviews
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Gregg Easterbrook
Nader Mousavizadeh
James Saft
John Wasik
Christopher Whalen
Ian Bremmer
Mohamed El-Erian
Lawrence Summers
The Great Debate
Unstructured Finance
Newsmaker
MuniLand
Money
Money Home
Analyst Research
Global Investing
MuniLand
Reuters Money
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Life & Culture
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Left Field
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Article
Comments (0)
Full Focus
Photos of the week
Our top photos from the past week. Full Article
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Ex-Beatle McCartney says "I Do" for third time
4:15pm EDT
"Video vigilante" fights Oklahoma prostitution with camera
08 Oct 2011
Russia's Medvedev echoes Stalin in party exhortation
08 Oct 2011
Merkel, Sarkozy promise new crisis package, offer no details
|
3:35pm EDT
Presidential race loses fizz for Tea Party
7:21am EDT
Discussed
266
Secret panel can put Americans on ”kill list’
154
California governor signs controversial ”Dream Act”
141
Senate takes first step on China yuan bill
Watched
Years of abuse by powerful led to current crisis: economist
Fri, Oct 7 2011
Rihanna's "inappropriate" outfit halts music video
Tue, Sep 27 2011
New Zealand oil spill threatens environment
Sat, Oct 8 2011
Tunisia police use tear gas on Islamist protesters
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
Tunisia Islamists storm university over veil ban
Sat, Oct 8 2011
Nobel honours African, Arab women for peace
Fri, Oct 7 2011
Insight: Occupy Wall St, the start of a new protest era?
Fri, Oct 7 2011
Protests spread to more than a dozen cities
Thu, Oct 6 2011
More than 700 arrested in Wall Street protest
Sun, Oct 2 2011
Analysis & Opinion
Injustice fuels the mob
Occupy Wall Street
Related Topics
World »
Tunisia »
By Tarek Amara
TUNIS |
Sun Oct 9, 2011 11:47am EDT
TUNIS (Reuters) - Police in Tunis used tear gas on Sunday to try to disperse hundreds of Islamists who were attacking them with stones, knives and batons, the biggest clashes over religion in the Tunisian capital for several years.
Tension is mounting before an election later this month, the first since a revolution toppled Tunisia's autocratic leader, that will pit Islamists free to express their beliefs for the first time against secularists who say their liberal values are under threat.
The Islamists were protesting against a ban on women who wear the niqab, or full-face veil, enrolling in university, and the decision by a Tunisian television station to broadcast animated film "Persepolis" which they said denigrated Islam.
Several hundred protesters gathered outside the main university campus in Tunis, and from there went to the working-class neighborhood of Jebel El-Ahmar, north of the city center, where the clashes with police broke out.
About 100 police vehicles, and several hundred police officers wearing anti-riot gear were deployed. A Reuters reporter said he saw officers running to escape the protesters.
The mainly young protesters blocked a main road and threw stones at vehicles trying to get through. They shouted: "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest) and "We will die for Allah!"
Tunisians will vote in an October 23 election for an assembly to draft a new constitution. The Islamist Ennahda party is expected to win the biggest share of the vote, alarming secularists who have traditionally dominated the ruling elite.
BAD SIGN FOR ELECTION
The clashes on Sunday are "a very bad sign for the holding of democratic elections," analyst Salah Attya told Reuters.
"This isn't a good atmosphere ... There are certain sides or parties which are pushing for an explosion of the situation before the election," he said.
Ennahda, a moderate group which says it respects women's rights and does not want to impose its religious values on Tunisian society, condemned Sunday's violence.
"I am against infringing on the sentiments of people and their religion, but that does not stop us being completely against violence, whatever form it is in," said an Ennahda official, Ali Larayad.
"We are in favor of peaceful protests to demand rights and on principle we condemn violence."
Tunisia became the birthplace of the "Arab Spring" uprisings in January when mass protests ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
The new caretaker government scheduled democratic elections and allowed Islamists to run for the first time, unleashing a tense debate about the role of religion in society.
The latest round of unrest broke out on Saturday when Islamists tried to storm a university in Sousse, about 150 km (93 miles) south of Tunis. Administrators, enforcing a government ruling, had refused to enroll a woman wearing the niqab.
Earlier on Sunday, Islamists protested outside the offices of the private Nessma television station in the center of Tunis.
The station angered some conservative Muslims by broadcasting "Persepolis," an award-winning film based on an account of a woman growing up in Iran under strict religious rule following the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Witnesses told Reuters about 300 protesters, some with sticks and knives, tried to set fire to the television station but were prevented from doing so by a large number of police. At least 40 people were arrested, the witnesses said.
(Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Louise Ireland)
World
Tunisia
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Social Stream (What's this?)
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.