Tunisian Islamists and secularists face off - Africa - Al Jazeera English
►http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2011/12/201112314837447708.html
Thousands of Tunisian Islamists and secularists staged parallel protests outside the interim parliament in a dispute over how big a role Islam should play in society after the country’s “Arab Spring” uprising, and subsequent election.
Tensions have been running high between the two camps since the revolt in January scrapped a ban on parties that advocate political Islam, paving the way for a moderate Islamist party to come to power at the head of a coalition government.
The latest round of protests was sparked when a group of hardline Islamists occupied a university campus near the capital to demand segregation of sexes in class and the right for women students to wear a full-face veil.
About 3,000 Islamists gathered outside the constitutional assembly in the Bardo district of the Tunis on Saturday, separated by a police cordon from a counter protest by about 1,000 secularists.
The Islamists say the secularist elite which has run the country since independence from France is still restricting their freedom to express their faith. Their rivals say the Islamists are trying to impose an Islamic state in what has been one of the Arab world’s most liberal countries.
The Islamist protesters at the rally carried placards saying: “We support the legitimacy of the majority!,” "Islamic Tunisia is not secular!," and “No to secularist extremism.”