Spanningen tussen regering en islamisten in Tunesië

For the first time since the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011, relations between mainstream Islamists in government and radical Salafist Muslim activists have reached breaking point, sparking deadly clashes in two Tunisian cities. The rupture between the Ennahda party, the Tunisian arm of the Muslim Brotherhood which governs in coalition with secular parties, and the Ansar al-Sharia movement could have ramifications across north Africa, potentially fuelling armed insurrection in Tunisia and neighboring Algeria.

Clashes between police and Ansar supporters on Sunday in which one person was killed and dozens wounded highlighted the rise of fundamentalist Salafist groups in the nascent North African democracy, empowered by a new atmosphere of freedom. The violence erupted after the government banned an annual preaching rally in the central city of Kairouan, a historic centre of Islamic learning, and other towns. A young man was killed in the Ettadamen district of the capital Tunis.