A Tunisian anti-government protest coalition on Friday said it would continue to unite the opposition against President Kais Saied despite the arrest of some of the top opposition leaders, and added that it would hold a demonstration on March 5, reported Reuters.
Tunisian police have recently detained several prominent critics of President Saied, including some of the leaders of the National Salvation Front, a coalition organization that united political parties and protest groups. On Friday, the police arrested Jawher Ben Mbarek, one of the movement’s leaders.
The front said the detainees were brought to the public prosecutor’s office handcuffed and in humiliating conditions amid an intense and heavily armed presence of security agents. It added that the consultations aimed at unifying the democratic forces, for which the detainees were arrested, will continue to intensify.
The protesters are demanding Saied step down as they accuse him of a coup for suspending the country’s parliament in 2021 and moving to rule by decree. He also brought forward a new constitution that he passed last year in a referendum with an extremely low turnout.
Tunisian President Saied continues to claim that his moves were necessary to save the country from chaos. In response to the arrests, the president has called his critics traitors and criminals and has said some of those arrested were behind food shortages that economists have blamed on weak state finances.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the Foreign Ministry of France expressed grave concern at the recent arrests in Tunisia and urged the Tunisian authorities to respect the freedom of the people, in particular freedom of expression.
Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani also said that his country is very worried about Tunisia’s difficult economic and social situation, where there are shortages of food commodities and tensions between the government and trade unions.
The minister also urged international institutions to provide financial support to the Tunisian government.
