Tens of Thousands Rally in Tunisia Behind Islamist Ennahda Government

Supporter of the Islamist ruling party Ennahda, hold Tunisian and party flags during a rally in Tunis, Tunisia, Saturday, Feb. 16, 2013. (Photo: AP)

(TheBlaze/AP) — Tens of thousands of supporters of the ruling Islamist party, waving banners and chanting, marched Saturday in the capital in response to rising criticism about Tunisia’s direction two years after its “Arab Spring” revolution.

It began after leftist opposition politician Chokri Belaid was shot dead outside his home on Feb. 6 and anti-government riots exploded around the country.  After internal struggle and efforts to appease the demonstrators, counter-protesters are now turning out to support Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali and the ruling Ennahda Party.

Along Avenue Bourguiba, some demonstrators held up Ennahda flags adorned with a blue dove, crescent moon and red star. Banners bore phrases such as: “We are here by the people’s will, only bayonets will make us leave” and “The revolution continues.” The thoroughfare was an epicenter of protests that forced longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali from power in January 2011, triggering a revolution that set off the so-called Arab Spring throughout North Africa and the Middle East.

Tens of Thousands Rally in Tunisia Behind Islamist Ennahda Government

Thousands of Tunisian supporters of the ruling Islamist party Ennahda march along Habib Bourguiba Avenue holding up the Tunisian, Islamist and party flags during a demonstration to affirm their right to govern the country on February 16, 2013 in Tunis. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

“Ennahda is open to all Tunisians. It is the crucible where Islamists and modernists converge because it’s an open and democratic movement. … It represents the spinal column that holds Tunisia together,” Ennadha leader Rachid Ghannouchi told the demonstrators outside the Tunis municipal theatre, to the cries of “God is Great” from many in the crowd.

Ennahda, a well-organized movement, was repressed under Ben Ali’s secular rule and capitalized on the revolutionary fervor to win subsequent elections.

Some of Saturday’s demonstrators were bussed in from Tunisia’s more rural and impoverished central and western regions, and a smattering of Salafist militants and other radicals took part.

“We are loyal to the blood of the martyrs,” some of their banners reportedly read.

Tens of Thousands Rally in Tunisia Behind Islamist Ennahda Government

Tunisian supporters of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party hold Tunisian flags and anti-french placards as they start to gather ahead of a demonstration to affirm their right to govern the country on February 16, 2013, in Tunis. (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

“I am here to support the legitimacy of the ballot boxes and condemn violence – wherever it comes from. I am with democracy. It’s fine by me, even if people choose other parties than Ennahda,” a more moderate demonstrator named Latifa Zayani said.

On Friday, Jebali said that talks between the opposition and the government would continue Monday on ways to defuse the political crisis. Only a day earlier, he had announced that he would seek to form a government of technocrats by Saturday – or resign. His initiative has backing of the opposition, but has put him on a collision course with his own party, which dominates the government and insists on sticking with a Cabinet of political figures.

The political crisis swelled after hundreds of thousands of people turned up at the funeral of Belaid, putting pressure on the Ennahda-led administration that was widely blamed for creating the violent environment that resulted in his death, as well as not solving persistent economic problems.

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