Clashes erupt as thousands mourn Tunisia politician

Tunis, Feb 8 (AFP) Police fired teargas and clashed with protesters today as tens of thousands joined the funeral of opposition leader Chokri Belaid whose murder plunged Tunisia into new post-revolt turmoil. Skirmishes erupted on the margins of the funeral procession which turned into a demonstration in Tunis, a city paralysed by a general strike called in protest over Wednesday's assassination of the leftist leader. The interior ministry said 132 people were arrested and estimated the size of the funeral crowd at 40,000. "With our blood and our souls we will sacrifice ourselves for the martyr," shouted mourners, who also chanted slogans denouncing the ruling Ennahda party as "assassins". Belaid, 48, was shot dead at close range by a lone, hooded gunman as he left home for work on Wednesday. The murdered politician's eight-year-old daughter fainted amid chaotic and emotional scenes as the procession began its three-and-a-half kilometre journey to the cemetery. The opposition has accused Ennahda, the Islamist party that dominates the ruling coalition, of eliminating the outspoken government critic after months of simmering tensions between liberals and Islamists over the future direction of the once proudly secular Muslim nation. Ennahda has vehemently denied being behind the killing. Police fired teargas at rioters who tried to set fire to cars opposite the cemetery in southern Tunis, sending up thick plumes of smoke and causing some panic. In the city centre, police wielding batons and firing teargas clashed with youths who chanted anti-government slogans on Habib Bourguiba Avenue. Armoured vehicles and troops deployed along the landmark boulevard, epicentre of the 2011 revolution that toppled autocratic president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked a wave of Arab world uprisings. As a general strike called by the powerful General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) took hold, troops were deployed in the towns of Zarzis in the south and Sidi Bouzid, birthplace of the 2011 uprising. Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali responded to Belaid's murder by saying he would form a government of technocrats. But a faction of his Ennahda party rejected the move, fuelling uncertainty as political infighting delays a deal on a new constitution. However, Jebali today insisted he was committed to the plan. "I stick by my decision to form a government of technocrats and I would not need the support of the constituent assembly," he was quoted as saying by the TAP news agency. (AFP) KKM KKM 02090009 NNNN