Police and Salafists clashed in Kef. Following the Hizb ut-Tahrir party’s June conference on “Establishment of the Caliphate and Removal of Colonialism,” Prime Minister Jomaa accused the group of calling for violence and failing to respect the values of the republic. Citizens had demanded action against Hizb ut-Tahrir after its leader branded a leading Tunisian intellectual as an infidel. Interior Minister Jeddou said in June that about 2,400 Tunisian youth have traveled to Syria to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham or the Al Nusrah Front, up from the roughly 1,800 Tunisians said to be in Syria in April. Jeddou also claimed that the government has prevented 8,800 Tunisians from traveling to Syria for jihad.
