Freedom for Tunisia: a ray of hope (Updated)

Appropriately happening on the anniversary of independence from France (colonial), a significant demonstration of secular political power was seen on the streets:

TUNIS, March 20 (Reuters) - Thousands of secular Tunisians marched in the capital on Tuesday, the country's independence day, to show their rejection of growing calls by conservative Salafi Islamists to transform post-revolutionary Tunisia into an Islamic state.

Would that the nationalist and other non-religious parties had thought things through better before the election, they probably had the numbers to keep even Ennahda (the most moderate of the Islamist political parties) from winning a plurality... had they only formed a united front... but it means that the minor secular parties and the two secular parties that are in coalition with Ennahda have some of the time they need to keep organizing and build strength.

Given how some of the other "Arab Spring" revolts have turned out, to date, there is reason to believe they are going to need all the strength they can muster.

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Update:

Just to show how important this is, here's an example of what they are up against politically: Salafists rally last Friday. Yup. Those are al-Qaeda banners in there amongst the traditional ones.