Tunisian demonstrators raise placards as they protest in front of the parliament, against their President Kais Saied’s seizure of governing powers, in the capital Tunis, on 14 November 2021. Saied sacked the prime minister, suspended parliament and granted himself judicial powers in a 25 July power grab that opponents have termed a coup. Photo: FETHI BELAID / AFP
Hundreds of Tunisians protest against presidential ‘coup’
Tunisian protesters shouted, “The people want to bring down the coup d’etat” and branded the president an “agent of colonialism”
Tunisian demonstrators raise placards as they protest in front of the parliament, against their President Kais Saied’s seizure of governing powers, in the capital Tunis, on 14 November 2021. Saied sacked the prime minister, suspended parliament and granted himself judicial powers in a 25 July power grab that opponents have termed a coup. Photo: FETHI BELAID / AFP
More than 1 000 Tunisians gathered on Sunday near the country’s parliament to protest a presidential power grab they have deemed a “coup”
It was the latest rally opposing President Kais Saied’s 25 July decision to sack the government, suspend parliament and seize an array of powers, citing an “imminent threat” to the country – the birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings against autocracy.
TUNISIANS AGAINST ‘COUP’
Protesters shouted, “The people want to bring down the coup d’etat” and branded the president an “agent of colonialism”, AFP correspondents reported.
Some carried signs reading “No to the intimidation of the media” and demanding “an independent judicial authority”.
SAIED HEADING ADMINISTRATION
On 22 September, Saied suspended parts of the constitution and installed rule by decree, maintaining full control of the judiciary as well as powers to sack ministers and issue laws.
He appointed a new government in October, with Najla Bouden as the North African country’s first female prime minister.
But he has significantly pared back the powers of her office and will technically head the administration himself.
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SAIED ACCUSED OF SEEKING TUNISIAN DICTATORSHIP
Saied, who was elected in late 2019, made his shock move amid a socio-economic crisis aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Some of his opponents have accused him of seeking a new dictatorship, a decade after Tunisia’s 2011 revolt that overthrew dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
But the president’s supporters say his moves were needed after years of deadlock among political parties seen as corrupt and self-serving.
© Agence France-Presse
