Tunisians Unite Against Video But Differ on Violent Response
Mischa Benoit-Lavelle speaks with Tunisians at the scene of Friday's assault on the US embassy in Tunis set off by an anti-Islamic video. Some protesters blamed the US for the video and even some police officers sympathized with the protesters' violent reaction. Others claimed the government hadn't done enough to corral the protests.
TUNIS – As images of the black smoke rising from the US embassy and news of deaths circulated in the Tunisian media, shock and dismay spread with them.
Amina el-Mahdhi, a young woman in her twenties who works for the International Federation of Human Rights, was driving down the highway that connects downtown Tunis to the suburb of La Goulette when she first saw the column of smoke and heard on the radio where it was coming from.
“I had been looking at the beautiful landscape, all the beauty that was around me, and I saw the smoke, and I thought, ‘This is not us, this is not my country.’ I was shocked,” said el-Mahdhi, “It’s not us. We’re tolerant. We’re not violent.”
El-Mahdhi was not alone in her indignation, but government statements gave a more qualified form of condemnation.
