Tunisian masses came out on the streets on Sunday to protest against President Kais Saied, accusing him of imposing one-man rule in the country after he dissolved parliament last month, reported TRT World.
Many members of parliament participated in the protest on Sunday, which took place with a heavy presence of anti-riot police. The demonstrations in the capital Tunis were organized by the largest parliamentary party Ennahda and a movement named Citizens Against the Coup.
“The people want to overthrow the coup,” the protesters chanted.
In July last year, Saied sacked the Tunisian government, froze the parliament, and seized wide-ranging powers. He has since ruled by decree, which his opponents describe as a coup.
He has rejected his opponents’ accusations and said he would hold a national dialogue on political reforms, but that “traitors and thieves” won’t be allowed to participate in the talks.
Saied has previously said he would form a committee to rewrite the Tunisian constitution, put it to a referendum in July and then hold parliamentary elections in the country in December.
The country’s two main parties Ennahda and Free Constitutional have both said they will oppose those plans.
The political crisis in the country intensified last month when more than half of the members of parliament held an online session to revoke Saied’s decrees.
After the online session, which Saied dissolved, anti-terrorism police summoned the main opposition figure Rached Ghannouchi and other lawmakers for questioning, prompting criticism from abroad as well as at home.
Ghannouchi, who is the Tunisian parliament’s speaker and head of the Ennahda party, said other virtual sessions would be convened.
A delegation from the European Parliament is scheduled to visit Tunisia on Monday to urge the return of the democracy established after the 2011 revolution that ended the autocratic rule of the late President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
