Tunis Friday Prayer

I went to the El-Fateh mosque in downtown Tunis for the Friday prayer. It’s a militant mosque. That’s where the hardline muslim leader Seif Allah Ben Hassine was holed up by police three days ago after he blamed the government for the killing of four demonstrators during the storming of the American embassy last week, in the riots sparked all over the muslim world by an obscene low cost film made in the Usa that insults the Prophet Muhammad.

Ben Hassine, also known as Abu Yadh, managed to escape with hundreds of followers as they ran through security lines clearly protecting his exit, although the cleric is allegedly the head of the Tunisian branch of Ansar al-Shariah, the Lybian salafist group suspected in the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that left the American ambassador Chris Stevens and three colleagues dead.

If the provocative movie wasn’t enough (dozens of people were killed in dozens of violent demonstrations in North Africa, Asia and the Middle East), the French magazine Charlie Hebdo published yet more insulting cartoons of the Prophet: the magazine was sold out, of course, and it’s good news in times of financial distress. And besides, what’s wrong? It’s Freedom of Expression after all. Fifteen more killed in Islamabad? It’s not our problem.

There was a lot of security today in the streets of Tunis. El-Fateh mosque was crowded with grim faces. Demonstrations were banned. The French embassy on Bourghiba avenue was surrounded by tanks and there were check points outside the city. There were no incidents after the prayer: just a few young angry people throwing stones at the police and a few teargas canisters shot into the crowd. They detained the usual (unemployed) suspects. But it’s just a matter of time before the next round.