Ansamed

(ANSAmed) - TUNIS, OCTOBER 23 - Hundreds of young Tunisian women demonstrated for women's rights on Tuesday outside the Constituent Assembly, where President Moncef Barzouki, Assembly President Mustapha Ben Jafaar, and Premier Hamadi Jebali spoke before a near-empty hall, which had been deserted by the opposition. Officially, today was the Assembly's last chance to work on the text of the country's new constitution, a still-unfinished task.

While the country's leaders spoke before benches deserted by the opposition, which holds that the interim government no longer has a legitimate mandate, outside, thousands of pro-government supporters that had been bused in on the public dime faced off with hundreds of Tunisian women, who waved 20-dinar bills at them in sign of contempt, and shouted slogans like ''Tunisia is ours'' and ''Ghannouchi go away,'' in reference to the Islamist politician and co-founder of the ruling Ennahda Movement, currently the largest party in Tunisia.

Ennahda now also faces opposition on its right flank, with Salafist Sheikh Abu Iyad, who is wanted for an attack on the American embassy, railing against the government's lust for power and alleging that Salafist organization Ansar al-Sharia has created people's defense committees. (ANSAmed).