Tunisian Islamists, leftists clash after job protests

 Reuters:

  • Members of main labour union body UGTT and pro-government Islamists clash near riot police during a gathering where UGTT members called for a general strike and downfall of the government led by the Islamist Ennahda party in Tunis December 4, 2012. REUTERS/Anis MiliView PhotoMembers of main labour union body UGTT and pro-government Islamists clash near riot …
  • TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisian police broke up fighting in Tunis on Tuesday when pro-government Islamists attacked labor union members they blamed for inciting protests last week against the Islamist government.

    Several hundred Islamists with knives and sticks charged a gathering of members of Tunisia’s biggest union, UGTT, in the capital and broke windows at its offices with stones, a Reuters witness said. Police then intervened to separate the two groups.

    About 10 people were hurt in the clashes, the witness said.

    “UGTT, you are thieves, you want to destroy the country,” the Islamists chanted. They also carried banners.

    Hundreds of UGTT members, who backed days of protests over lack of jobs and development in the deprived town Siliana last week, had been chanting slogans in the streets by the UGTT headquarters calling for a general strike and the downfall of the government led by the Islamist Ennahda party.

    “Ennahda will end up like Ben Ali. They have not chosen their enemy well,” said one demonstrator, referring to Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, the veteran autocrat toppled in the Arab Spring uprising in January 2011.

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    H/T Magic Martin

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