‘No Return’: Tunisians take to streets to protest on returning jihadis after Berlin attack
HUNDREDS of protestors gathered outside Tunisia’s parliament to protest about the country allowing jihadists who have fought overseas to return.
Protestors outside Tunisia's parliament
Crowds in the capital Tunis chanted: “No to freedom for terrorist groups” while placards read “lock the door to terrorism” as well as “no tolerance, no return”.
Those taking part also waved Tunisian flags and sang the national anthem.
Activists said they were angry at the lack of government action to prevent jihadists who fought overseas from returning to the country without facing punishment.
Facebook video purports to show Tunisian suspect Amri
The demonstrators largely focused their fury on the head of the Islamist Ennahda Party Rached Ghannouchi, who has in the the past supported the idea of allowing Tunisian jihadists who renounce violence and their past to return home.
One demonstrator, Faten Mejri, said: “For us, they are not Tunisians. They are awful people."
Anti-jihadi protestors outside Tunisia's parliament
Organisers have said that 1,500 people attended the rally.
They called for the government to do more to round up ex-fighters after their return to face trial.
The country’s President Beji Caid Essebsi said previously that the nation would not pardon Tunisians who had fought for any jihadi organisation.
Demonstrators outside Tunisia's parliament building
He said: “Many of them want to return, and we can't prevent a Tunisian from returning to his country. But we will be vigilant.”
More than 5,000 Tunisians are fighting for jihadist groups abroad, mainly in Iraq, Syria or neighbouring Libya, according to a UN working group on mercenaries.
Interior Minister Hedi Majdoub told parliament on Friday, 800 Tunisian nationals who had fought for extremist groups abroad had since returned to the country.
Demonstrators protest in the Tunisian capital Tunis
The demonstration was held less than a day after Tunisian police said they had arrested three alleged Islamist extremists connected to Tunisian-born Anis Amri, the main suspect in Monday's Berlin Christmas market attack.