THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Tunisian extremists firebombed the home of a TV station chief Friday, hours after militants protesting its broadcast of a film they say violated Islamic values clashed with police in the streets of Tunis.
About a hundred men, some of whom threw Molotov cocktails, lay siege to the home of Nabil Karoui, the head of the private television station Nessma late on Friday, the station reported in its evening news bulletin.
Karoui's family had only just escaped, the news presenter said.
Sofiane Ben Hmida, one of Nessma's star reporters, told AFP the station chief was not at home when the attack on his house took place at around 7:00pm (1800 GMT). But his wife and children were.
About 20 of the protesters had managed to get inside.
"The family managed to get out the back and are safe. The attackers wrecked the house and set it on fire," he added.
Interior ministry spokesman Hichem Meddeb told AFP around a hundred people had turned up outside the house, forced their way inside, broken the windows and torn out two gas pipes. Five people had been arrested, he added.
This was the most serious incident yet in an escalating series of protests against the station's broadcast of "Persepolis" on October 7.
The globally acclaimed animated film on Iran's 1979 revolution offended many Muslims because it depicts an image of God as an old, bearded man. All depictions of God are forbidden by Islam. Read on and comment » | Saturday, October 15, 2011
LE FIGARO: Troubles autour du film Persepolis en Tunisie : Des milliers de personnes ont manifesté vendredi pour dénoncer la représentation de Dieu sous les traits d'un vieillard barbu. Dans la soirée, le domicile du PDG de la chaîne qui a diffusé le film a été attaqué. » | Par lefigaro.fr | Samedi 15 Octobre 2011
