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'Committees to Defend Revolution' Deny Using Violence in Tunisia

Eileen Byrne reports from Tunis on allegations of the use of violence by grassroots organizations aligned with the government and Islamist parties.
A Tunisian protester gestures towards a police officer during a demonstration outside Mornaguia jail calling for the liberation of Sami Fehri, TV producer and director of Ettounsiya Television, in Tunis December 24, 2012. REUTERS/Anis Mili  (TUNISIA - Tags: POLITICS CIVIL UNREST SOCIETY)

TUNIS — In the low-income Tunis suburb of Kram, the building that once housed the police station was torched and ransacked after President Zine al Abidine Ben Ali fled the country two years ago. Its white-washed walls still bear graffiti reading "The Men of the Revolution in Kram" and (in English) "We are always ready to fight." Awnings colored the red of the Tunisian flag flutter over unglazed windows. Inside, it has the air of a well-kept student squat, and a small television is tuned to a political chat show. Photos show some of the eight young men killed by police bullets in Kram during the revolution.

Kram's self-appointed "Men of the Revolution" meet here twice a week to plan their protests, sometimes coordinating with the umbrella League for the Defense of the Revolution which brings together local "committees to defend the revolution" across the country. These grassroots groups, like Kram's, have vowed to block any attempt by old-regime figures to make a comeback and "divert the revolution from its goals." They are in the spotlight this month after allegations they are merely fronts for thuggish militias that use violence or intimidation against anyone challenging the hegemony of the ruling Islamist party, Nahda.

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