A spirit of solidarity defined Tunisia's pro-democracy revolution of almost exactly two years ago, uniting the coast and the interior, the pious and the secular. But that spirit is fading, to be replaced by confrontation. On December 4th Islamists pitched into leftists on the streets of the capital, Tunis, in retaliation for an earlier, trade-union-led agitation in the provincial town of Siliana, where police fired lead shot and protesters chucked rocks. Two days after a truce was brokered in Siliana, young men in the hospital showed off pellets dug from their wounds. In the main street, graffiti welcomed the security forces to "hell". Now mostly withdrawn from the town centre, the police say that 72 officers were hurt by missiles during the riots. At least 250 protesters were injured.
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