Tunisian police fired tear gas in front of parliament yesterday to disperse secular protesters demanding the dissolution of the assembly and Islamists defending the legitimacy of their rule.

Police began firing after the arrival of thousands of opposition protesters who had been attending the funeral of the assassinated secular politician Mohamed Brahmi, a Reuters reporter said. Protesters threw stones back at police and there were several injuries.

The people want to topple the regime

Secular opposition parties are demanding the dissolution of the parliament and the Islamist-led government.

“The people want to topple the regime!” and “With our blood and with our souls we will sacrifice ourselves for the martyr!” people in the crowd shouted.

“Ghannouchi, assassin, criminal,” others chanted, referring to Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the ruling Islamist Ennahda party that Brahmi’s family says was behind the killing. Ghannouchi has denounced Thursday’s assassination as an attack on democracy.

In a counter-demonstration, hundreds of Islamists flocked in front of the parliament chanting slogans condemning what they described as an attempted coup against democracy.

The Interior Ministry issued a statement calling for calm.

The death of secular opposition figure Brahmi, gunned down outside his Tunis home on Thursday, came months after another secular leader, Chokri Belaid, was killed in a similar attack that stoked violent protests.

Brahmi was buried near Belaid’s tomb at the Al Jalez cemetery in central Tunis, and mourners carried portraits of both slain politicians.

The funeral was attended by Brahmi’s widow and son and several prominent politicians.

Brahmi’s death further deepened divisions between Islamists and their secular opponents that emerged after President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was toppled in 2011 in the first of the revolutions that also felled leaders in Egypt, Libya and Yemen.