Hundreds of Salafi Islamists, angered by an art exhibition they say insults Muslims, clashed with police in Tunis yesterday, raising religious tensions.
Protesters blocked streets and set tyres alight in the working class Ettadamen and Sidi Hussein districts of the capital, hurling petrol bombs at police in some of the worst confrontations since last year's revolt ousted Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali and began the Arab Spring.
An Interior Ministry official said 86 people had been detained overnight and seven members of the security forces were wounded as they tried to quell the rioting by using tear gas and firing into the air.
Salafis, who follow a puritanical interpretation of Islam, had defaced "offensive" artwork.
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