Tunisia faces strike after assassination

Tunisian opposition figure, Mohamed Brahmi, has been shot dead outside his home by unknown gunman. Source: AAP

TUNISIA is facing a general strike on Friday as the country plunges into crisis after gunmen shot dead a leading opposition figure, an assassination that brought thousands onto the streets.

The killing of MP Mohamed Brahmi, a father-of-five who was shot by unknown gunmen outside his home on Thursday, sparked international condemnation. It was the second such assassination this year.

It was not clear who carried out the killing, but the ruling Ennahda party, a moderate Islamist group, was forced to deny accusations from his family that it had been involved.

There are demonstrations in central Tunis and in Sidi Bouzid, the birthplace of the Arab Spring and Brahmi's hometown.

Police in Tunis fired tear gas to disperse scores of demonstrators who tried to set up a tent for a sit-in calling for the fall of the regime.

The General Union of Tunisian Labour (UGTT) called Friday's general strike across the country in protest at "terrorism, violence and murders".

The union last called a two-hour general strike on January 14, 2011, the day former Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fell.

Tunisia's national airline Tunisair cancelled all flights on Friday.

Brahmi, 58, of the leftist Popular Movement, was killed outside his home in Ariana, near Tunis, Watanya state television and the official TAP news agency reported.

"He was riddled with bullets in front of his wife and children," Mohsen Nabti, a fellow member of the small movement, said in a tearful account aired on Tunisian radio.

Watanya said Brahmi had been struck by 11 bullets fired at point-blank range.

The February 6 assassination of Chokri Belaid, another opposition figure, also outside his home, sparked a political crisis in Tunisia and charges of government connivance.

The family of Brahmi accused Ennahda of being behind both murders.

In Sidi Bouzid, crowds chanted "Down with the Brothers, down with the people's torturers!"

Thousands also protested in nearby Menzel Bouzaine, where Ennahda party offices were set ablaze.

Prime Minister Ali Larayedh, himself an Islamist, told reporters: "I condemn in the strongest terms this odious crime which targets the whole of Tunisia and its security."

He also called for calm.

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