(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) has called on people to stage a demonstration on Friday to coincide with the funeral of Chokri Belaid, a critic of the country’s ruling Ennahda Party. Belaid, also a lawyer, was fatally shot by a gunman outside his home in the capital Tunis on February 6.
Belaid’s killing has triggered massive protests in the capital, Tunis, and the mining region of Gafsa. His family has accused Ennahda of being behind the killing.
Following the explosion of public anger over the murder, Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said in a televised address on Wednesday that he would dissolve the cabinet and form a new government of technocrats.
However, Ennahda’s parliamentary leader Sahbi Atig said on Thursday that the premier’s decision was rejected by his bloc of lawmakers. “The head of the government took the decision without consulting the (ruling) coalition or the Ennahda movement.”
On Thursday, Tunisian protesters staged a demonstration in the Habib Bourguiba Avenue of the capital, where the uprising in 2011 ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. However, they were confronted by security forces firing tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.
Four Tunisian opposition groups, including Belaid’s Popular Front, have said they were quitting the Constituent Assembly, which was elected in October 2011 but has so far failed to draft a new constitution.
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