[Al Ahram] Tunisia's hardline Salafist movement Ansar al-Sharia...a Yemeni Islamist militia which claims it is not part of al-Qaeda, even though it works about the same and for the same ends...
vowed on Thursday to go ahead with its annual congress at the weekend in defiance of a government ban on the controversial gathering.
"We are not asking permission from the government to preach the word of God and we warn against any police intervention to prevent the congress from taking place," the group's front man Seifeddine Rais told a news conference in Tunis.
"The government will be responsible for any drop of blood spilt," he said, adding that more than 40,000 people were expected at the planned meeting on Sunday in the historic central city of Kairouan.
The government had banned the gathering because organisers did not get permission from the authorities as required by law, Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of ruling Islamist party Ennahda, said Wednesday.
"The authorities must apply the law without distinction. We support the firmness of the government in applying the law for all," said Ghannouchi, who also condemned the use of violence in the name of Islam.
The interior ministry requires that political parties and associations obtain permission for all public activity.
Interior Minister Lotfi Ben Jeddou, an independent in the ruling coalition, said last week he would bring to justice "anyone inciting to murder or hatred... or who pitches tents for preaching in," in a clear reference to the radical Islamists.