Today, Sunday, a protest march took place in the Tunisian capital, in opposition to the decisions of President Kais Saied, on the occasion of the 66th anniversary of independence from French colonialism.
The march started from the Bab Saadoun area towards Bardo Square, where the parliament is located, at the invitation of the "Citizens Against the Coup" campaign and with the participation of a number of opposition parties, including the Ennahda Movement, the Dignity Coalition and the Tounes Irada Party.
The demonstrators raised slogans, including "Down with the coup, liberties liberties, the police state is over (it is over), the judiciary is independent and justice is the solution, dismissing the president is a duty."
Anadolu Agency said that the authorities prevented cars from roaming on March 20 Street, which leads to the seat of the Assembly of People's Representatives in the Bardo suburb, and also ordered the metro not to stop at stations located on the march line.
"Today's action is a continuation of the struggle to end the coup and return Tunisia to the democratic path," Riad al-Shuaibi, political advisor to the head of the Ennahda movement, said in a statement to the agency.
He continued, "Today is a historic day for Tunisians to celebrate the 66th anniversary of independence from the French colonizer (1881-1956), and despite the security cordon and the arrests that affected a number of those who wanted to participate, we are strongly present on this road towards Bardo."
For his part, Jawhar bin Mubarak, a member of the Citizens Against the Coup campaign, said that "the large security presence, preventing dozens of demonstrators from reaching the starting place of the march and stopping a number of others, confirms the existing authority's search to re-establish the police state and besiege the right of expression."
Earlier, local media said that the governor of Tunisia, Kamel al-Faqih, decided - yesterday, Friday - to ban protests on Habib Bourguiba Street in the center of the capital, in a move that would inflame the anger of the opposition, which accuses the president of pursuing one-man rule.
These sources added that the governor of the capital said in a statement, "Habib Bourguiba Street will be devoted to cultural, tourist and exhibition activities only."
These sources stated that all other protests will be moved to the Human Rights Square or other public squares on Mohammed V Street.
Security barriers on the path to the march (Reuters)
Since July 25, 2021, the country has been experiencing a political crisis following the exceptional measures launched by the president, including freezing the powers of Parliament, issuing legislation by presidential decrees, dismissing the government and appointing new ones.
The majority of political and civil forces reject these measures, and consider them a "coup against the constitution", while other forces support them, seeing them as a "correction" of the course of the 2011 revolution that toppled President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.