Tunisian protesters reject calls for Islamic state

By Tarek Amara | Reuters – Tue, Mar 20, 2012

TUNIS (Reuters) - Thousands of secular Tunisians marched in the capital on Tuesday, the country's independence day, to show their rejection of growing calls by conservative Salafi Islamists to transform post-revolutionary Tunisia into an Islamic state.

Carrying Tunisia's red and white flag, several thousand protesters filled Bourguiba Avenue, a focal point of protests that ousted strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali on January 14 last year and sparked the "Arab Spring" uprisings.

"We came in our thousands to say to those who want to change the course of the revolution that we will confront you," said rights activist Jaber Ben Hasan, amid chants of "the people want a civil state".

"We are here to bring victory to the civil state," he said, referring to a state that was not governed by religious law.

http://news.yahoo.com/tunisian-protesters-reject-calls-islamic-state-135650729.html