Region | Tunisia
Tunisia police disperse university sit-in
Protesters demand an end to niqab ban which was put in place citing security concerns
- AFP
- Published: 00:00 January 26, 2012
Tunis: Tunisian police on Tuesday ended a week-long sit-in by conservative Muslims at a university that banned the niqab, a university official said.
"At my request, the state prosecutor came here this afternoon to observe the situation and the ‘sit-inners' were removed by the police," said Habib Kazdaghli, dean of the faculty of letters at Manouba, about 25 kilometres from Tunis.
Since November 28, a group of students who were for the most part not enrolled at the university had camped out to demand the right for women students to wear the full veil. They also demanded a place of prayer on campus.
The university banned the niqab over security concerns if students were concealed from head to toe.
Reinstated
Though some protesters called off the sit-in earlier this month, it was soon reinstated in the university's administrative offices, Kazdaghli said.
Mohammad Bakhti, a spokesman for the sit-in, said they decided not to resist the police in order not to "end our fight for the niqab", adding that they would decide on the next steps for their movement.
The removal of the demonstrators by police came on the first day of exams amid a tense atmosphere on campus. Some ultra-conservative Muslims, known as Salafists, had attacked the Arabic department, breaking down the door and insulting the teachers, according to witnesses. Manouba university has some 13,000 students and is considered as leftist bastion in Tunisia.
University officials have been frustrated by the government's "inertia" in responding to the protests.
On Monday, moderate Islamist Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali made note of the problem in a speech to the country's constituent assembly, saying he would "apply the law" against the "savage sit-ins", especially at the universities.
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