Students and radical Muslims have scuffled in Tunisia over the Harlem Shake dance craze. Source: AAP
- Qld boys do Harlem Shake dance vid. It goes viral.
- Vid travels all the way to Tunisia. Local youths copy.
- Authorities not happy. Showdown looms ahead of mass Harlem Shake.
FIVE Queensland teenagers have inadvertently sparked what could be biggest uprising in the north African nation of Tunisia since the Arab Spring.
The teenagers from the Sunshine Coast uploaded a video of the "Harlem Shake" onto YouTube, a provocative dance which first appeared in the 2012 song Harlem Shake, recorded by American DJ Bauer.
The dance went viral online, and has now made its way to Tunisia where it is infuriating conservative Muslim groups.
Tunisia is where the Arab Spring started after street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in December, 2010 in protest against poor living conditions and lack of freedom of speech.
The freedom of speech issue is again centre stage in the nation of 10.7 million people after Tunisian students and conservative Muslims known as Salafists faced off in scuffles over the Harlem Shake dance in the cities of Sidi Bouzid and Tunis.
Salafists are a rapidly growing group of Islamic activists, who recently destroyed artworks in Tunis which they described as "blasphemous".
In Sidi Bouzid, birthplace of Tunisia's 2011 revolution, school students tried to film their version of the Harlem Shake on Wednesday but were denied permission.
School officials said the students took to the streets outside where they were set up upon by about 20 Salafists, ultra-conservative Muslims, who warned them against "this Western dance of misbelievers".
The thrusting, highly sexualised moves have infuriated many Tunisians.
In the capital Tunis, a dozen or so ultra-conservative Muslim youths including women in veils tried to oppose a video of the dance and were told to "Get out, get out!"
Police had to be called to separate the two sides, restoring calm.
Where the Arab Spring was a battle for basic human rights, the scenes playing out in Tunisia now are a case of young people taking western values into a corner of the world where many people despise such values.
Defiant youth activists have put out a call for a mass Harlem Shake to be staged later today in front of the education ministry in Tunis.
There are also reports out of Egypt that a student group plans to dance the Harlem Shake in front of the Muslim Brotherhood's headquarters in Cairo.
Those five Queensland schoolboys might have a lot answer for.
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