Chokra Belaid

 Chokri Belaid shot dead in Tunis. The prominent opposition politician Chokri Belaid was shot once in the chest and once in the head in an assassination style killing yesterday.

Paris24 news reports that he had received anonymous death threats recently.

A prominent opponent of the moderate islamist ruling party,  Ennahda, he was the co-ordinator of the leftist Democratic Patriots party which is amongst the opposition groups that counter the ruling coalition since the first post-Arab Spring elections in late 2011. “My brother was assassinated. I am desperate and depressed,” Mr Belaid’s brother Abdelmajid Belaid told AFP. Meanwhile the Prime Minister, Hamadi Jebali said his murder was an “act of terrorism”, adding “This is a criminal act, an act of terrorism not only against Belaid but against the whole of Tunisia.”

Large crowds have gathered in protest at what they believe to be the latest in a series of, possibly government-led, attacks on the Democratic Patriots party. These photographs are taken in central Tunis and from in front of the Ministry of the Interior where thousands have gathered and are calling for a ‘second revolution’.

For live updates follow the hashtag #ChakraiBelaid on twitter. For further information on the state of Tunisia following the ‘Jasmine Revolution’ start with this short video report from the BBC .