Tunisian Judges Association approves a one-week strike

Today, Saturday, the Tunisian Judges Association decided a general strike, starting from next Monday, for a period of one week, subject to renewal, while the national dialogue sessions called by President Kais Saied began, amid boycotts by many parties and confrontations between the police and protesters opposing the referendum.

During a meeting held by the Association's emergency National Council, most of the attendees voted to approve the principle of engaging in a strike starting next Monday in all judicial facilities for a week, subject to renewal.

The association also decided, according to the official news agency, to engage in open sit-ins in all the headquarters of the judicial union structures, and not to run for judicial positions to compensate the dismissed, as well as not to run for positions in the subsidiary bodies of the Electoral Commission.

All judicial union structures, including a syndicate, an association, young judges, and administrative judges, participated in the decision to strike, noting that the decision to strike excluded burial permissions and severe terrorism cases.

The assembly had held an emergency meeting to discuss President Qais Saeed's decision to dismiss 57 judges and determine the steps to respond to it.

The head of the association, Anas Al-Hammadi, said that whoever thinks that he is able to monopolize the executive and judicial authority and insult the judges is most important, and that they will not leave the executive authority to play on internal divisions.

For its part, the National Authority for the Defense of Liberties and Democracy in Tunisia called on lawyers and court employees to make the judges' strike a success.

She supports the judges in their pivotal battle for independence.

The start of the national dialogue

Meanwhile, the first meeting of the Advisory Committee on Economic and Social Affairs of the National Consultative Commission for a New Republic, a body approved by President Kais Saied, took place.

The dialogue witnessed the boycott of many parties, most notably the Tunisian General Labor Union, political parties and independent personalities.

The Coordinating Head of the Commission, Sadiq Belaid, asked the participants to submit a paper containing their visions of Tunisia during the next 40 years, and how to translate this into constitutional texts and institutions capable of consolidating them in reality.

For his part, Chairman of the Committee Ibrahim Bouderbala said that the committee's work program will be discussed during the initial meeting, and the schedule of the remaining meetings and themes that will discuss the economic and social aspects will be set.

A number of national and political parties announced their boycott of these meetings, including the Tunisian General Labor Union, Afaq Tounes, Al-Massar, the United National Democratic Party, and the Sumud Coalition.

On the other hand, the preliminary meeting was attended by representatives of a number of parties such as the People's Movement, the Popular Current, the Tunisia Forward Movement and Tunisia First, in addition to representatives of national organizations such as the Tunisian League for the Defense of Human Rights, the Union of Industry and Trade and the Tunisian Union.

The "Sumoud" coalition, which includes figures supporting the president, announced a boycott of the dialogue sessions, justifying its decision by not providing the minimum conditions and guarantees for participation in the dialogue, but at the same time the coalition announced its adherence to the success of what it described as the July 25 process.

On the other hand, Mouldi Jendoubi, the former assistant secretary general of the Labor Union, apologized for not participating in the dialogue.

Protest

In the northern suburb of the capital, Tunis, 5 parties opposed to the president's measures organized a protest in front of the headquarters of the Independent High Authority for Elections.

The protesters raised slogans against the electoral commission and the referendum to be held, calling for its downfall. They also criticized President Saeed's actions and the process of building what he describes as the new republic.

The Secretary-General of the Workers' Party, Hamma Hammami, strongly criticized the security forces' practices, stressing that repression and restrictions would not deter them from continuing their moves to topple the referendum, as he put it.

This stand is the first move in the national campaign to drop the referendum on the new constitution, which is scheduled to take place on 25 July.

For its part, the "Citizens Against the Coup" initiative said that what it called "the coup popular mobilization, with the complicity of the security forces, attacked a popular meeting of the National Salvation Front" opposing the president.

She added that disrupting the political meeting of the National Salvation Front is "a thuggish and chaotic behavior", and that "the practice of chaotic violence is clear evidence of the predicament that the de-facto authority is experiencing."