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10-09-2011, 07:46 PM
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#1 |
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 Tunisian Islamists storm university over veil ban
By Tarek Amara
TUNIS Reuters Islamists stormed a university in Tunisia on Saturday after it refused to enrol a woman wearing a full-face veil, a staff member said, highlighting tensions over religion that are likely to dominate an election later this month. Tunisia votes on Oct. 23 in the first election since a revolution that inspired the “Arab Spring” uprisings. The vote has pitted Islamists against secular Tunisians who say their liberal values are under threat. “The General Secretary of the university was attacked this morning with extreme violence by a group of religious extremists,” said Moncef Abdul Jalil, a faculty head at the university of Sousse, about 150 km (93 miles) south of the Tunisian capital. About 200 people protested outside the faculty, and then stormed the building carrying banners demanding students’ right to wear a veil, Abdul Jalil was quoted as saying by Tunisia’s official TAP news agency. “This serious incident caused a state of terror and panic in the ranks of college students and professors,” he said. Witnesses told Reuters that, after the incident, a large security force contingent surrounded the faculty building to prevent any further attacks. The clashes in Sousse provoked a storm of anger among secularists on social networking website Facebook. Following online calls for a counter-protest, about 200 women gathered in El-Menzah, a northern suburb of the capital, to protest against religious violence, witnesses said. A former French colony, Tunisia has a long history of secularism and liberal attitudes. That has been challenged since autocratic president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was swept from power in January, and conservative Muslims were free to express their views and adopt the outward trappings of their beliefs. Under Ben Ali rule, thousands of people who were suspected of membership of an Islamist political group or who followed strict interpretations of Islam were arrested. The full-face veil -- known as the niqab -- is rarely seen on Tunisia’s streets but it has been one of the subjects of debate between Islamists and secularists. The Education Ministry decided to ban students from wearing the niqab at the start of the academic year. The Islamist Ennahda party is expected to win the biggest share of the vote on Oct. 23, when Tunisians are to choose an assembly which will draft a new constitution. Ennahda leader Rachid Ghannouchi told Reuters in an interview his party would uphold women’s rights and not try to impose strict Muslim values on society. |
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10-09-2011, 08:05 PM
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#2 |
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Salam alikum,
thank you for sharing article. I am just upset to hear about decicision of sole person or small group of person who lead University. Unfortunately Tunisia feels strong secular influence from France in my opinion. People of tunisia have such a dificulty to get rid of invisible chain of postcolonialism. This accident does not allow me to look with optimism to the result of election, people do not have enough experience with various parties. the future can be very painful I am afraid. w salam |
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10-09-2011, 08:12 PM
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#3 |
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if they love secularism so much they should emigrate to france. the damned kafirs!
btw i also think they should stop having french as one of their official languages. the french are the most arrogant people in the world. |
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10-09-2011, 09:12 PM
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#4 |
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These secularists and anti-shariah people in Muslim lands are actually the ideological illegitimate children of the kuffar western colonial ex-rulers who have been used by the kuffar to continue their ideological/cultural rule over the Muslim lands.
These Munafiqs must be exposed for what they are. Puppets of the Kuffar! |
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10-10-2011, 12:23 PM
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#5 |
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  Whenever I see REUTERS or AP (ASSOCIATED PRESS) (etc etc) I consider the source to be utterly corrupted. Even if the reporter's name is 'Tarek'. Both of these news media agencies are dominated by kufar with ideological slants. How sad is it that we Muslims receive news of Muslim affairs and events through bias, corrupt kafir sources? This is one of the ways by which the continued colonization and domination by kafir Western and secular forces continues today. With that in mind, I went to al Jazeera to find a continuation or an alternative version of this story, depending on who is more reliable. Police in the Tunisian capital have used teargas in an attempt to disperse hundreds of protesters who were attacking authorities with stones and batons. The protesters, who are aligned with conservative Islamic groups, had gathered at the main university in Tunis on Sunday to protest against a ban on wearing the niqab, or full-face veil, as well as the closing of a mosque near the campus. Al Jazeera's Yasmine Ryan, reporting from Tunis, said: "Several hundred protesters were throwing rocks at police in the Ras Ettabia suburb next to the University of Tunis El Manar." The university is one of the largest In Tunisia and is a frequent choice of working class students. Ryan continued: "One reason they are rioting is because they are going to close the mosque right next to the university. Police are firing tear gas and are throwing rocks back at protesters." Under the regime of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, former president who was forced from power in January, the mosque was a hotbed for activism. It had been forced to close in 2002, and only reopened after Ben Ali stepped down. Election tension In another neighbourhood of Tunis on Sunday, hundreds of protesters rallied against the decision by a Tunisian television station to broadcast an animated film depicting Allah, a practice that is forbidden by Islam. "There was a first attempt to attack our headquarters by a group of around 200 Salafists, who were dispersed by police before reaching our offices," Nebil Karoui, the head of the private channel, told the AFP news agency. About 100 police vehicles and several hundred police officers wearing anti-riot gear were deployed to the university protest site, the Reuters news agency reported. Several officers were seen running away to escape the protesters. The protesters, mainly students, blocked a main road in the area and threw stones at vehicles trying to pass through. They shouted: "Allahu Akbar" (God is greatest), and "We will die for Allah!" Tension is mounting between religious groups and the secularists, who have traditionally dominated the ranks of the ruling elite, before an October 23 election in which the Islamist Ennahda party is expected to win the biggest share of the vote. Tunisia became the birthplace of the "Arab Spring" uprisings in January when mass protesters ousted president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. The new caretaker government scheduled democratic elections and allowed Islamist politcal parties to run for the first time, but secular groups now say that their modern, liberal values are under threat. Saturday's arrests The latest round of unrest broke out on Saturday when Islamist supporters tried to storm a university in Sousse, about 150km south of Tunis. University administrators had enforced the government ruling to refuse to enroll a woman wearing the niqab. Earlier on Sunday, Islamist groups had protested outside the offices of the private Nessma television station in the centre of Tunis. The station had broadcast an animated film depicting Allah. Witnesses told Reuters about 300 protesters, some with sticks and knives, tried to set fire to the television station but were prevented from doing so by a large police contingent. At least 40 people were arrested, the witnesses said. Source: Al Jazeera and agencies http://english.aljazeera.net/news/mi...820636109.html And even this Al Jazeera needs to be confirmed. And Allah knows best. |
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10-10-2011, 12:31 PM
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#6 |
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These filthy munafiqs are worse than all our enemies. The French are the worse people in the world. Usama2 I wonder why the UAE let them open up a big base in Abu dhabi? You can see these French clowns with their french cars (renaults, peaugeout etc). I hate these people with a passion.
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10-10-2011, 01:53 PM
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#7 |
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salam alikum,
.... This is one of the ways by which the continued colonization and domination by kafir Western and secular forces continues today.... absolutely true!!! I can not understand why people do not choose freedom instead! If they would believe in one god , even then they would discover what is real freedom, to get rid of chains is sooo tricky, and these non-believers are so sofisticated to deceive...!! w salam |
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10-10-2011, 04:51 PM
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#8 |
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10-10-2011, 05:10 PM
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#9 |
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Democracy:
Everyone has the right to vote in favor of our liberal Western ideologies.
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10-16-2011, 04:38 PM
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#10 |
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Yes brother , even these so called Arab news channels are puppets of the west. they are a part of the secularisation and de-Islamisation efforts in Muslim lands. Shame on them. There is almost no difference between them and the Kuffar Media. We need truly Muslim News networks and Media who wont hire prostitutes to present the News. Can anyone formulate a serious business plan for one? |
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10-16-2011, 04:52 PM
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#11 |
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