The popular movement that has returned to the streets following the assassination of opposition politician Chokri Belaid on February 6, has been accompanied by numerous riots and insecurity.
Thousands of those attending Belaid’s funeral were shocked by acts of arson, looting and vandalism by a group of young people in a systematic manner intended to disrupt the funeral and induce the police to intervene in skirmishes that erupted as Belaid was taken to his final resting place.
The popular movement that has returned to the streets following the assassination of opposition politician Chokri Belaid on February 6, has been accompanied by numerous riots and insecurity.
Thousands of those attending Belaid’s funeral were shocked by acts of arson, looting and vandalism by a group of young people in a systematic manner intended to disrupt the funeral and induce the police to intervene in skirmishes that erupted as Belaid was taken to his final resting place.
Intimidation of citizens affected not only the area around Jellaz Cemetery but also in many suburbs around Tunis in addition to some internal areas where troublemakers took advantage of the almost complete absence of the police.
Salafist security
In a first of its kind since the revolution, legions of civilian cars, trucks and motorcycles carrying salafists have been roaming the streets of many governorates, like Bizerte, Sfax, Sidi Bouzid, Gafsa and El Kef.
These patrols concentrate in specific neighborhoods in Tunis, such as Tadamon, Zahrouni, and others neighborhoods with intense activity of salafist movements, like Hizb ut-Tahrir and ‘Sharia Supporters’ group which have called upon salafist ‘supporters’ via Facebook to ‘help the salafists’ in charge of these security patrols to ensure safety and protect people’s property from vandalism and theft.
These patrols comprise bearded men wearing a uniform with ‘Sharia Supporters’ written on it. They carry flags of al Qaeda, and most of them hold batons and exclaim ‘God is Great’ late at night until early in the morning.
Many citizens consider it a good idea to realize security and thwart vandals, especially since the salafists enjoy a good reputation in many areas, such as Bizerte Governorate (northeastern Tunisia) where they have been known for helping the citizens in activities of protection and cleaning since the early days of the revolution in January 2011.
However, resentment against insecurity and the use of salafists prompted some residents of Nour neighborhood in Sidi Bouzid (midwestern Tunisia) to expel a salafist patrol. In addition, clashes took place in Qitar District in Gafsa Governorate (southwestern Tunisia) between residents and the police that used tear gas and warning shots before they arrested a group of people who were protesting an assault launched by a salafi patrol against some of the city youth whom the patrol accused of drinking and insulting God.
Police’s perogative
The Ministry of Interior’s (MoI) official spokesman, Khaled Tarrouche, said protecting the citizens and their property was a perogative of the police and the military, and no one, pursuant to the law, might replace them whatever the circumstances.
The ministry, said Tarrouche, ‘highly appreciates the initiative’ taken by some citizens to protect their property and residential areas from violence and vandalism; however, the ministry managed to end the riots that accompanied the general strike called for by Tunisian General Labour Union on the day of Belaid’s funeral.
In a statement on official Tunisian TV channels, Ali Laarayedh, a leader of the ruling Ennahda Party, said there was no such a thing as parallel security and that he would not allow salafists to run the security affairs in the country.
This statement raised the ire of salafists who antagonize Laarayedh and accuse him of targeting and oppressing them, especially since the attacks on the U.S. Embassy in late 2012.
Cleaning up their act?
“We do not have enough information about salafist security,” said Wassim Rouissi, member of the Intervention Unit Union Executive Bureau. “It is an abnormal phenomenon that apparently comes from salafists trying to polish their image,” he said.
Rouissi said that many of those ‘who appointed themselves substitute policemen’ have been arrested.
“We did not stand against spontaneous initiatives to protect citizens and property during the revolution; we in fact encouraged this serious support for policemen in their difficult task. But, when it comes to coherent organization and running security affairs instead of the police, it becomes a dangerous matter,” he added.
Samir Taieb of Social Democratic Path Party (left) and a member of the Constituent Assembly for the Democratic Bloc said ‘security salafists’ were a far cry from a marginal or abnormal phenomenon, stressing that the absence of security and using militant salafi jihadists to realize it was de facto the beginning of the state’s collapse. Taieb explained that salafists were about to explore how well the Tunisian street would resist such phenomena, which he said represented a real threat to the state.
Such statements coincide with cries of dismay and calls for protests made by activists of human rights and civil society against salafists’ supervision over the country’s security. Is it the beginning of the Islamization of the state and eliminating its civil nature or just a passing crisis?
