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Tunisian Opposition Leader’s Funeral Draws Thousands
Tunisian Opposition Leader’s Funeral Draws Thousands
(about 5 hours later)
TUNIS — In an outpouring of grief and anger, thousands of Tunisians filled the capital’s main cemetery on Friday to bury Chokri Belaid, an opposition politician whose assassination this week stirred fears in Tunisia and throughout the region of political violence that could subvert the Arab uprisings born here two years ago.
TUNIS — In a show of anger at Tunisia’s Islamist-led government, tens of thousands of people filled a hilly cemetery in the capital on Friday to bury Chokri Belaid, an opposition politician whose assassination this week stirred fears here and throughout the Arab world that political violence could subvert the uprisings born in Tunisia two years ago.
In bracing scenes that recalled the 2011 revolution against Tunisia’s autocratic leader — and in numbers not seen since — mourners directed much of their anger at Tunisia’s post-revolutionary government and the Islamist party that leads it, deepening the sense of a growing crisis.
In bracing scenes that recalled the 2011 revolution against Tunisia’s autocratic leader — and in numbers not seen since — mourners marched for miles through a city quieted by the largest labor strike in decades, which was called in Mr. Belaid’s honor. Clashes outside the cemetery interrupted the proceedings for a time, sending tear gas and black smoke from a torched car wafting among the mourners. But the funeral remained overwhelmingly peaceful.
With much of the country quieted by the largest labor strike in decades — called in honor of Mr. Belaid, a veteran organizer — clashes between protesters and the police raged outside the walls of the cemetery, angering the mourners as tear gas canisters dropped near the graves.
Mr. Belaid, a lawyer, a human-rights activist and the leader of a leftist opposition coalition, was killed by gunmen on Wednesday as he sat in his car. His fierce criticisms of Tunisia’s largest Islamist group, Ennahda — along with death threats he received from religious hard-liners known as Salafis — led his supporters and relatives to blame Islamists for his death. No one has been arrested in the killing.
Witnesses said the clashes started after young men vandalized cars. The violence, along with numerous robberies and fights during the overwhelmingly peaceful march, caused some to wonder whether Mr. Belaid’s supporters were being provoked – although no one was sure by whom.
Many people said that the size of the crowd, for a politician who even supporters said had a limited following, showed that anger at the Islamists was reaching deeper into Tunisian society. The funeral also provided a measure of the growing polarization between the country’s secular and religious forces, threatening Tunisia’s attempts to accommodate both camps in its coalition government.
By the graveside, Hamma Hammami, another longtime organizer, shouted a farewell into a megaphone as military helicopters circled. “My brother, my dear friend Chokri. We will miss you,” he said. “Tunisians, come together. The revolution continues.”
“It has become a fight over identity,” said Arraf Dheif, a high school teacher, who said he came to the march out of a sense of national duty. He said he saw the killing of Mr. Belaid as a threat to Tunisia’s still incomplete revolution and as an insult to the demands of protesters for freedom and democracy.
A steady stream of supporters also traveled to Mr. Belaid’s home, where a circle of flowers and other mementos marked the spot where he was shot multiple times at close range in his car on Wednesday. No suspects have been arrested, further raising fears of a broader conflagration.
“Every coward and every extremist should know that Tunisia is not just Chokri Belaid,” he said.
“I’m afraid the country will descend into chaos,” said Nuzha ben Yayha, a mourner who came to pay her respects.
That the killers remained unidentified fed the sense of dread here, despite promises by the government to investigate the murder. Tunisians had prided themselves on largely avoiding the political violence that has troubled transitions in neighboring countries like Libya, where the government has been unable to reign in militias that fought Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, or interrupt a cycle of political assassinations in the city of Benghazi.
The country’s labor federation called the first general strike in more than three decades to coincide with the burial, adding to a combustible mix of passions just two years after the overthrow of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali signaled the beginning of the Arab revolts sweeping the region.
Violence has also surged in Egypt in recent weeks, leading to more than 50 deaths. On Friday, after days of calm, antigovernment protesters marched in several cities, clashing with the riot police in the Nile Delta town of Tanta and marching on the presidential palace in Cairo.
The official TAP news agency said the national Army had been ordered to “secure” Mr. Belaid’s funeral “and ensure the protection of participants” while the trade union federation had called for a “peaceful” general strike “in order not to serve the objectives of Tunisia’s enemies who had planned Chokri Belaid’s assassination.”
To quiet the outrage after Mr. Belaid’s killing, Tunisia’s prime minister, Hamadi Jebali, announced that the Islamist-led government would be replaced with a cabinet of technocrats who were not tied to any political party. Ennahda — Mr. Jebali’s own party — said it would oppose the move. On Friday, Mr. Jebali reiterated that he would press ahead with his plan.
The embassy of France, the former colonial power, said on its Web site closed its schools in the capital on Friday and Saturday for fear of renewed outbursts of violence.
“I am going down that road, hopefully with the approval of all parties,” Mr. Jebali told reporters. “We must work for the best of the country.”
On Thursday, protesters clashed with riot police officers in several cities. Here in Tunis, shuttered stores, tear gas and running street battles recreated the atmosphere of that uprising against Mr. Ben Ali but with none of the hope. Instead, many worried about a growing instability following the killing.
On Thursday, with a political crisis brewing, the army said it would “secure” Mr. Belaid’s funeral “and ensure the protection of participants,” according to Tunisia’s state news agency.
Adding to the uncertainties, Prime Minister Hamadi Jabali said Friday he still intended to replace the Cabinet with technocrats not affiliated with any party despite objections by his own governing party, the Islamist-led Ennahda, which rejected that idea on Thursday.
On Friday morning, near factories in Jebel Jelloud, where Mr. Belaid grew up, soldiers guarded a street leading to a cultural center where the coffin lay in state. Hundreds marched to the site from downtown Tunis, draping themselves in the Tunisian flag, as onlookers watched from balconies. Outside, in the rain, mourners gathered, carrying signs that said, “We are all Chokri Belaid.”
“I am going down that road. Hopefully with the approval of all parties,” Mr. Jabali told reporters. “We must work for the best of the country.”
“We are steadfast, like mountains,” they chanted, as a woman cried in anguish. “We do not fear assassination.”
He did not disclose the names of any new ministers and said approval of the National Constituent Assembly was unnecessary because he was not formally dissolving the government.
They began to march.
Mr. Jabali’s jousting with fellow members of Ennahda revealed growing strains within a movement that has promoted its blend of Islamist politics and pluralism as a model for the region.
Among them were lawyers attending in solidarity with their slain colleague and wearing distinctive black robes that some had embellished with Tunisia’s flag. Mr. Belaid was known as the lawyer of the poor, one said, noting that he had defended Salafists with the same vigor as his other clients.
“The prime minister did not ask the opinion of his party,” Abdelhamid Jelassi, Ennahda’s vice president, said in a statement reported on the party’s Web site. “We in Ennahda believe Tunisia needs a political government now. We will continue discussions with other parties about forming a coalition government.”
“We hope this will be the last episode of violence,” said one lawyer, Kais Triki. “The trouble is with the political class.”
The troubles in Tunisia unsettled the region and endangered a country that was credited with avoiding the chaos plaguing some its neighbors. In the same way some had held up Tunisia’s transition as an example, politicians in the region studied Mr. Belaid’s assassination and saw a broader warning.
On the side of the road, Ahlem Bousserwel smoked a cigarette and cried. “We fought for our country, and we won’t let others take that away from us,” she said. “We lost one of the best men. The price we are paying is too high.”
Mr. Belaid’s death was seen as a blow to the country’s turbulent transition, raising the possibility that the political violence in Tunisia had reached a dangerous new level.
Some knew Mr. Belaid personally, and had lost a friend. Tayeb Ayad went to primary school with Mr. Belaid in Jebel Jelloud, where he said they both learned “what poverty was like.” For others, Mr. Belaid’s funeral was a symbol, a way to vent anger at the Islamists.
In the southern mining city of Gafsa, riots broke out on Thursday and the police fired tear gas at demonstrators who threw stones, a local radio station reported. The city is known as a powerful base of support for Mr. Belaid, who was a fierce advocate for the miners.
The mourners filled the green hills around the cemetery, waiting for the coffin. Witnesses said the clashes outside started after young men had vandalized cars. .
A regional headquarters of Ennahda was burned down in the town of Siliana, according to local news media, one of more than a dozen party offices attacked by protesters in the last two days.
At the graveside, Hamma Hammami, another veteran leftist, delivered a eulogy and a warning. “Tunisians, come together,” he shouted into a megaphone. “The revolution continues.”
In one of the most disturbing aspects of the situation, Mr. Belaid had himself warned just before his death about Tunisia’s troubling turn toward violence and called for a national dialogue to combat it. He took special aim at Ennahda, accusing the Islamist group of turning a blind eye to crimes perpetrated by hard-line Islamists known as Salafis, including attacking Sufi shrines and liquor stores.
Aida
Alami and Farah Samti contributed reporting from Tunis, and Rick Gladstone from New York.
The governing party has condemned the assassination. Anxiety about the assassination reverberated in Egypt, where political feuds have been eclipsed by street clashes between protesters and the riot police. Security officials said plainclothes guards had been assigned to guard the homes of prominent opponents of Egypt’s Islamist-dominated government. The worries were amplified because of a fatwa issued by a hard-line Egyptian cleric saying that opponents of President Mohamed Morsi should be killed. The fatwa specifically mentioned Mohamed ElBaradei, a former United Nations diplomat and leader of Egypt’s largest secular-leaning opposition bloc, which led him to request the protection.
“Regime silent as another fatwa gives license to kill opposition in the name of Islam,” Mr. ElBaradei wrote in a Twitter message. “Religion yet again used and abused.”
Kareem Fahim reported from Tunis; David D. Kirkpatrick from Antakya, Turkey; and Alan Cowell from Paris. Monica Marks contributed reporting from Tunis, and Rick Gladstone from New York.
