TUNIS: Tunisia’s Islamist premier Ali Larayedh vowed tough action against Ansar al-Shariah Monday after bloody clashes between police and members of the radical Salafi group, hinting at a shift in government policy.

 

Tunisia has been rocked by waves of violence blamed on militant Islamists since its January 2011 revolution, and Larayedh reacted angrily to the latest unrest, which erupted after the authorities banned the group’s annual congress.

 

At least one protester was killed and 15 police hurt, with the victim buried late Monday in Ettadhamen, the poor Tunis suburb and renowned Salafi stronghold where Sunday’s clashes broke out.

 

Ansar al-Shariah and a police source said a second protester was also killed, but the Interior Ministry said his death was not linked to the clashes, while the Salafists insisted neither victim belonged to their movement.

 

Larayedh said around 200 Salafists were arrested and vowed firm action against the group considered close to Al-Qaeda that he linked for the first time to “terrorism,” prompting analysts to see a possible shift in government policy.

 

“Those proven to have nothing against them will be released, but those found to have been involved in violating the law will be prosecuted,” he told AFP during a visit to Doha.

 

“Ansar al-Shariah is an illegal organization which defies and provokes state authority,” Larayedh told Tunisian state television Sunday.

 

“It has ties to and is involved in terrorism,” added the former interior minister and stalwart of the ruling Ennahda party.

 

The moderate Islamist party has been sharply criticized for failing to prevent a surge in attacks by hard-line Islamists since the mass uprising that toppled Zine al-Abidine

 

Ben Ali, and of being too lenient toward the Salafists.

 

But faced with the threat of two armed jihadi groups hiding near the Algerian border, it has hardened its stance, banning the Salafists’ planned congress Sunday in the holy city of Kairouan after their leader threatened “war” against the government.

 

Analysts say the prime minister’s comments late Sunday may signal a turning point.

 

“It is a change of language. Larayedh has never before used this term for Ansar … reserving the word terrorist for the groups” which Tunisia’s army is hunting on the Algerian border, said Michael Ayari from the International Crisis Group think tank.

 

It remains to be seen whether the premier’s words will be followed by actions, with Ayari pointing out that dozens of Salafists were arrested after an attack on the U.S. Embassy in September and most of them freed several months later.

 

“The words count, but we still can’t say that the policy has changed, that they mark a point of no return, and that the Ansar al-Shariah activists will now be arrested for

 

belonging to the movement, for their political identity,” the analyst added.

 

Ansar al-Sharia’s leader Abu Iyadh has been on the run since September, after the attack by Islamist protesters on the U.S. Embassy in Tunis that he is accused of having orchestrated and which left four assailants dead.