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Tunisian politician Mohamed Brahmi 'assassinated' | Tunisian politician Mohamed Brahmi 'assassinated' |
(35 minutes later) | |
Tunisian opposition politician Mohamed Brahmi has been shot dead outside his home in the capital, Tunis, reports say. | Tunisian opposition politician Mohamed Brahmi has been shot dead outside his home in the capital, Tunis, reports say. |
Mr Brahmi, 58, led the nationalist Movement of the People party. | Mr Brahmi, 58, led the nationalist Movement of the People party. |
It is the second time an opposition party leader has been killed this year. | |
In February, prominent secular politician Chokri Belaid was also shot outside his house in Tunis. His murder sparked protests and forced Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali to resign. | |
An uprising in Tunisia in late 2010 kick-started a series of revolutions that spread through the Middle East and became known as the Arab Spring. | |
Popular unrest | |
Gunmen on a motorbike shot Mr Brahmi in front of his wife and daughter on Thursday morning, Movement of the People party officials said. | |
Local media said the assailants fired 11 bullets at the politician. It is not known yet who is behind the attack. | |
Large crowds have gathered outside the Ministry of Interior in Tunis in protest over the killing. | |
There are also reports of protesters converging in the city of Sidi Bouzid, Mr Brahmi's hometown and the birthplace of the Arab Spring. | |
"People have blocked roads and set tyres alight," a local resident told the Reuters news agency. | |
Mr Brahmi founded the Movement of the People party after the 2011 revolution. | |
He was also a member of the National Constituent Assembly, which is drafting a new constitution. | |
The assembly announced Friday would be a day of mourning. | |
Mr Brahmi was not as big a political figure as Mr Belaid, but he too was a leftist critical of the governing Islamist Ennahda party. | |
Ennahda came to power following the overthrow of long-term ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. | |
The party has faced growing popular unrest over a faltering economy and a rising extremist Islamist movement. | |
After Mr Belaid's assassination in February, many Tunisians accused Ennahda of not doing enough to stamp out a rise in Islamist violence, with some critics saying the party was actively fomenting it, correspondents say. | After Mr Belaid's assassination in February, many Tunisians accused Ennahda of not doing enough to stamp out a rise in Islamist violence, with some critics saying the party was actively fomenting it, correspondents say. |
The party denied the accusations. | |
Hamadi Jebali was forced to resign earlier this year after being unable to form the neutral technocratic administration he believed was necessary following Mr Belaid's shooting. | |
His successor, Ali Larayedh, unveiled a new coalition government in March. | |
The current cabinet is led by Ennahda and backed by two secular parties and some independents. |