10.02.2013 - 12:17 [ Guardian ]

Violent tide of Salafism threatens the Arab spring

Late last year, largely unnoticed in the west, Tunisia‘s president, Moncef Marzouki, gave an interview to Chatham House‘s The World Today. Commenting on a recent attack by Salafists – ultra-conservative Sunnis – on the US embassy in Tunis, he remarked in an unguarded moment: „We didn‘t realise how dangerous and violent these Salafists could be … They are a tiny minority within a tiny minority. They don‘t represent society or the state.“