Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

Supporters, Opponents of Tunisian President Take to Streets in Capital


Sat 18 Sep 2021 | 09:06 PM
Ahmed Moamar

Today, Saturday, hundreds of the Tunisian people took to the street of Habib Bourguiba in the center of the Tunisian capital to express support or opposition to decisions made by President Kais Saeed on July 25.

The demonstrators raised slogans against the decisions of President Saeed, demanding the return of Parliament.

On the other hand, other demonstrators raised slogans in support of the measures taken by the President earlier.

Demonstrators chanted anti-Saeed slogans, describing the measures he announced on July 25 as a "coup against legitimacy and the constitution."

The demonstrators demanded a halt to the trials before the military court, and the participants in the sit-in called for the release of parliamentarian Yassin al-Ayari, whose work has been frozen, denouncing what they described as "the return of dictatorship."

It should be noted that the Tunisian president decided, after protests erupted over the deteriorating living conditions, amid a political crisis, to freeze the Parliament and dismiss the government.

These calls come amid a pision in Tunisian society, as part of it supports the measures announced by President Kais Saeed on July 25, while the other part sees these measures as a threat to freedoms and democracy.

While part of the Tunisians bless these measures and hold Parliament and the political elites responsible for the deteriorating situation in the country, another part said that the freezing of Parliament and the dismissal of the government is a coup against the constitution and the beginning of a regime change.

Among the most prominent figures calling for demonstrations and protests, former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki, who described Said's exceptional measures as a coup.

However, the Tunisian "Ennahda", a pro-Islamist political movement called last Thursday to expedite the termination of the exceptional measures as soon as possible and to lift the freeze on Parliament.

In a statement issued by its executive office, the movement stressed the need to appoint a person charged with forming a "legitimate government capable of facing difficult economic and social conditions in a circumstance characterized by severe difficulties."