UPDATED 7:30 AM EST, February 6, 2013
The execution-style assassination of anti-Islamist Tunisian politician Shokri Belaid has driven around one thousand protesters to the streets, according to The Telegraph. Belaid was a key figure in the secular Popular Front movement that coalesced in opposition to the ruling Ennahda-led government. The Islamist Ennahda group won control of Tunisia in a 2011 election, after former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown in that country's Arab Spring. Foreign policy analysts have expressed themselves impressed with the movement's commitment to pluralistic democratic change, a stance which may be undermined by Belaid's murder. Belaid's brother accused Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi of "assassinating my brother."
