Thousands of Tunisians flocked onto Tunisia’s capital Friday for the funeral of a slain opposition leader.

Thousands of Tunisians flocked onto Tunisia’s capital Friday for the funeral of a slain opposition leader.

Around 3,000 mourners gathered outside a public building in Tunis' southern suburbs of Djebel Jelloud where Chokri Belaid's coffin lay covered in flowers ahead of the afternoon burial.

The Tunisian capital was at a near standstill amidst a general strike called by the North African country's biggest union to protest his murder.
Streets were deserted, shops shut and public transport at a minimum. The city's international airport was shut down and airport authorities said all flights to and from the capital were cancelled.

The army deployed vehicles and troops along Habib Bourguiba Avenue, the epicenter of the 2011 revolution that toppled autocratic president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked a wave of uprisings across the Arab world.

Belaid -- an outspoken critic of the ruling party Ennahda, one of the region's most powerful Islamist movements -- was shot dead outside his home Wednesday by a lone gunman.
The 48-year-old leftist politician was to be buried after weekly prayers.

The strike called by the powerful General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) is expected to be the biggest since January 14, 2011 -- the day that Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia.