AFP/TunisThousands of Tunisians angered by the increasing prominence of Salafists in a country only recently freed from dictatorial rule took to the streets in protest yesterday. An AFP correspondent estimated several thousand activists, professors, artists and other demonstrators flooded the streets of the nation’s capital, including along Bourguiba Avenue, a well-known thoroughfare that became a centre for dissent during protests that led to the ouster of dictator Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali a year ago. “We are here to speak out against aggression against journalists, activists and academics,” said Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, founder of the Democratic Progressive Party. “And to tell the government that Tunisians’ hard-fought freedoms must not be compromised.” Many Tunisians in October voted for the Islamist Ennahda party, which now dominates the government.