Premier-designate Ali Larayedh on Friday unveiled Tunisia's new coalition government after reaching a last-minute deal aimed at ending a major political crisis, with independents given key portfolios in a clear concession by Islamists.

"I presented to the president the dossier containing the list of the new government and a summary of the government program," Larayedh, a member of the powerful Islamist Ennahda party, said on television.

Prime Minister-designate Ali Larayedh on Thursday was to hold tense, last-minute negotiations on forming a new coalition government to defuse Tunisia's political crisis.

With less than 48 hours before a constitutional deadline, Larayedh, an Islamist and the outgoing administration's interior minister, left open the possibility of failure as he prepared to meet party leaders.

Tunisia's secular president said in comments published on Wednesday that Salafist hardliners blamed for deadly violence since the 2011 revolution should be fought but within the bounds of the law.

President Moncef Marzouki said there should be no return to the strong-arm tactics of ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, even after the February assassination of leftist politician Chokri Belaid that has sparked Tunisia's worst crisis since his overthrow.

Tunisian Prime Minister-designated Ali Larayedh said on Tuesday he did not know when he would be able to announce the formation of a new government, with only days left to finish the task.

Larayedh was speaking on the radio after parliamentary speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar said in Paris he expects a new government to be formed "in the next 24 to 48 hours", even if disputes remain over portfolios and the political platform.

Angry residents of a town in northern Tunisia hurled stones at the car of visiting Islamist leader Rached Ghannouchi on Sunday, a security source said.

At the sight of Ghannouchi, several dozen people in Thala shouted "Get out!" -- one of the rallying cries of the revolution that toppled the regime of former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouk extended by three months on Friday a state of emergency in force since the 2011 revolution, as the country faces its worst crisis since the uprising.

The decision, taken after consultations with caretaker prime minister Hamadi Jebali and National Constituent Assembly chief Mustapha Ben Jaafar, extends the state of emergency until June 3, Marzouki's office said.

Hundreds of Salafists protested on Friday in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, calling for the release of an imam arrested as part of an inquiry into a gunfight between police and radical Islamists.

The crowd shouted "Ali Larayedh, coward!" referring to the interior minister who has been tasked with forging a new coalition government.

Tunisian students and radical Muslim Salafists have faced off in renewed scuffles over the "Harlem Shake" dance craze in the cities of Sidi Bouzid and Tunis, witnesses said on Thursday.

In Sidi Bouzid, birthplace of Tunisia's 2011 revolution, Regueb school students tried to film their version of the "Harlem Shake" on Wednesday on the premises but were denied permission.

Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki testified on Thursday in the murder probe of Chokri Belaid, as a judicial source named the Salafist suspected of the assassination that plunged the country into turmoil.

"President Moncef Marzouki received this morning the judge of the Tunis first instance tribunal who heard his testimony as a witness in the assassination of Chokri Belaid," said a brief statement.

Sitting on the fringes of upheaval in the Middle East, Lebanon's capital Beirut has become the scene of experimental music-making by Khat Thaleth, a group of rappers out to take the revolts that started during the Arab Spring to the next level.

The collective has members from around the region -- ranging from Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab uprising, to the Palestinian refugee camps of Lebanon -- and vocalizes the realities of a new generation carrying the baggage of the past.