TUNIS — Hundreds of Tunisians demonstrated Sunday in a
show of support for President
Kais Saied and a series of extraordinary measures
he took since last July that critics have slammed as a “coup”.
اضافة اعلان
The rallies come as Saied faces mounting criticism
over his July 2021 power grab, in which he sacked the government and suspended
parliament before moving on to rule by decree.
Demonstrators gathered in the capital’s central
Bourguiba Avenue — the epicenter of vast protests that toppled former leader
Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 — in response to a call by a pro-Saied
alliance.
They held banners reading “We are all Kais Saied”
and demanded the prosecution of “corrupt” politicians, echoing a frequent
refrain uttered by the head of state.
Critics have warned that Saied’s moves mark a shift
towards autocracy, threatening the only democracy to have emerged from the 2011
Arab Spring uprisings.
In late April, several Tunisian opposition parties
announced the formation of a
National Salvation Front to “save” the country
from the deepening political crisis.
Prominent leftist Ahmed Nejib Chebbi said at the
time that the alliance aimed to unite political forces, re-establish
constitutional and democratic processes and guarantee freedoms and rights in
the country.
Saied in early May announced the launch of a
“national dialogue” to help resolve the crisis — but excluded critical
opposition groups, including his arch-rivals, the Islamist-inspired
Ennahdha party.
In parallel with the political turmoil, Tunisia has been
gripped by a dire social and economic crisis, and has sought a loan package
from the
International Monetary Fund.
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