Tens of thousands of Tunisians marched through the capital in a show of solidarity against Islamist militants on Sunday (March 29), hours after the government said its forces had killed nine members of a group suspected of carrying out this month’s deadly Bardo Museum attack.
Thousands of Tunisians march after Bardo attack
The March 18 attack in Tunis killed 21 foreign tourists and a policeman, shaking a country that has been praised as a peaceful democratic model since leading the first of the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011.
A red-and-white sea of Tunisian crescent and star flags filled a major boulevard in Tunis where several world leaders, including French President Francois Hollande, planned to rally under the slogan “Le Monde est Bardo” (The World is Bardo).
Thousands of police and soldiers were positioned around the capital.
One of the most secular countries in the Arab world, Tunisia has mostly avoided violence in the four years since the toppling of autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.
In contrast with Libya, Yemen and Syria which have plunged into war and chaos, it has adopted a new constitution and held free elections.
But the Bardo massacre was one of the worst attacks in its history.
Japanese, Polish, Spanish and Colombian visitors were among those killed in the attack, which the government says was aimed at destroying Tunisia’s vital tourism industry.
Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi was also due to take part in the demonstration later, along with leaders from Palestine, Poland, Belgium, Libya and Algeria.
Ventuno