BREAKING: Tunisian Opposition Leader Shokri Belaid shot dead. Mass Rallies against Islamist Government expected

nsnbc
February 6, 2013

(nsnbc, RT & agencies) The leader of the Tunisian opposition, Shokri Belaid, who had recently formed an opposition coalition against the Islamist Government under Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali was shot dead in front of his home today. More than 1000 Tunisians are protesting in front of the Interior Ministry, accusing the government for the death of Shokri Belaid, and demanding that the government should fall.

Not yet confirmed eyewitness reports are claiming that live ammunition has been used against protesters. Security forces are cordoning off the area around the Interior Ministry.

Shokri Balaid had recently succeeded at forming a coalition of opposition parties against the government of Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali. The assassination of Shokri Balaid is widely be expected to be a politically motivated murder and an attempt to silence the emerging coalition alliance.

Belaid, the leader of Tunisia´s Democratic Patriotic Party, had recently begun speaking out against alleged attacks by a group of Islamist Enhada mercenaries and Salafists against the parties and opposition activists last Saturday.

The opposition leader was killed as he was leaving his home in Tunisia´s capital Tunis. Belaid was hit by four bullets to his chest and head. Reportedly, Belaid had recently received death threats. The French 24 TV channel reported that three men in a black vehicle had been present at the scene.

A Tunisian political activist known to nsnbc, expressed that the assassination of Belaid may be tied to the recent French pivot in Mali and covert French operations in Algeria and throughout the region.

Tunisia was the first African country where the Arab Spring began manifesting two years ago. The Arab Spring has since been widely recognized as having been socially engineered and co-opted by an alliance of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Muslim Brotherhood organizations throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa, as well as a cohort of Al Qaeda factions.

Tunisia has, in spite of some protests and some violence been spared for scenes like those which are currently paralyzing Egypt. The assassination of Belaid however, may bring many Tunisian´s frustrations about the co-opted revolution to the surface.

According to latest reports more and more Tunisians are taking into the streets to vent their anger.