Police clash with Tunisian demonstrators

Police forces have clashed with pro-government Tunisians who had gathered to protest against the meeting of an opposition party.

On Saturday, police forces used tear gas to disperse the supporters of the ruling Islamic Ennahda party who were protesting against the opposition movement Nidaa Tounes.

The Ennahda accuses the head of Nidaa Tounes, post-revolution premier Beji Caid Essebsi, of supporting the remnants of the ousted regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

In February, Tunisia witnessed anti-government protests after leftist opposition leader Shokri Belaid was killed outside his house.

Last December, hundreds of Ennahda activists along with the members of the League for the Protection of the Revolution protested at a hotel in Djerba, where the opposition group was having a meeting.

Members of the league were accused of killing a Nidaa Tounes activist last year.

In December 2010, Mohammed Bouazizi, an unemployed young Tunisian frustrated with poverty and financial problems, set himself ablaze and died.

Bouazizi’s death sparked mass protests, which finally caused a popular revolution in Tunisia, leading to the ouster of the country’s Western-backed dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, in January 2011.