Tunis, Tunisia - Hundreds of Salafi Islamists, angered by an art exhibition they say insults Muslims, clashed with police in Tunis on Tuesday, raising religious tensions in the home of the Arab Spring and piling pressure on the moderate Islamist government.
Protesters hurled petrol bombs at officers in some of the worst confrontations since last year's revolt ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and launched uprisings across the Arab world.
Salafis, who follow a puritanical interpretation of Islam, blocked streets and set tires alight in the working class Ettadamen and Sidi Hussein districts of the capital overnight.
By morning, protests had spread to a number of residential districts. Stone-throwing youths stopped trams from passing through the capital's Intilaqa district where demonstrators entered mosques and used the loudspeakers to call on Tunisians to defend Islam.
An interior ministry official on Tunisian state TV said 97 people had been detained during the unrest, including dozens of Salafis and some "criminals".
Tuesday's clashes came a day after a group of Salafis forced their way into an art exhibition in the upscale La Marsa suburb and defaced works they deemed offensive.
The work that appears to have caused the most fury and polarized Tunisians, spelt out the name of God using insects.
"These artists are attacking Islam and this is not new. Islam is targeted," said a youth, who gave his name as Ali and had removed his shirt and was preparing to confront police in Ettadamen.
In a statement released before the protests, Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party that now leads the government, condemned what it described as provocations and insults against religion but urged its own supporters to respond peacefully.
DIFFICULT POSITION
The violence puts Ennahda in a difficult position.
While Islamists did not play a major role in the revolution, the struggle over the role of Islam in government and society has since emerged as the most divisive issue in Tunisian politics and several clashes have erupted in recent months.
Salafis, some of whom are loyal to al Qaeda, want a broader role for religion in the new Tunisia, alarming secular elites who fear they will seek to impose their views and ultimately undermine the nascent democracy.
A Tunisian official told Reuters seven members of the security forces were wounded as they tried to quell the riots by using teargas and firing into the air.
State television reported the offices of Tunisia's main labor union in the northwestern city of Jendouba had been set alight by Salafis overnight while the offices of secular parties were attacked.
The powerful union is considered a bastion of Tunisian secularism in a country that was seen as one of the most secular in the Arab region under the rule of Ben Ali and his predecessor, independence leader Habib Bourguiba.
A group of youths cut off the main road linking the capital to Bizerte, about 60 km to the north.
A day before the clashes, the leader of al Qaeda called on Tunisians to defend Islamic law from Ennahda, which won the first post-revolutionary election in North Africa in October and has said it would not seek to impose sharia (Islamic law) in the new constitution that is being drawn up.
The audio recording, attributed to Ayman al-Zawahri and released on Islamist websites, said Ennahda, which leads Tunisia's government in coalition with two secular groups, had betrayed the religion.
While pushing for a greater role for Islam, Tunisian Salafi leaders have said they would do so peacefully and did not intend to clash with Ennahda. However, Salafis say they draw the line at actions they believe humiliate Muslims or Islam
Secularists have defended the offending art, criticizing the Islamists they say are bent on curbing freedom of expression. They say Ennahda has been too lenient with Salafis, giving them the confidence to step up their demands.