Hundreds of Tunisians took to the streets Sunday, April 10 in Tunis, for the largest protest against President Kais Saied since he took office.
Despite numerous checkpoints and controls, hundreds of people gathered on Bourguiba Avenue, at the call of various opposition leaders from the Islamist Ennahdha party.
Bourguiba Avenue was under heavy surveillance, with extensive police presence, as Tunisians demanded the reopening of parliament, which Kais dissolved in March.
“Parliament must return,” shouted demonstrators, who are lamenting the political crisis, coming in the midst of a socio-economic and health crisis.
The demonstrators chanted slogans against the Tunisian President, including “the people want what they don’t want,” “down with the coup,” “the police state is outdated”, or “constitution, freedom, national dignity,”
The demonstrations coincide with the commemoration of the Feast of the Martyrs, celebrated every April 9.
Tunisia commemorated Saturday the 84th anniversary of the events of April 9, 1938, when riots took place resulting in the death of 22 Tunisians in a bloody shootout to suppress demonstrations that demanded the institution of a parliament in Tunisia still under French protectorate.
“Citizens Against the Coup” is a grassroots initiative that has put forward a proposed roadmap to end the political crisis in Tunisia, including the holding of early presidential and legislative elections in the second half of 2022.
Tunisia has been in a serious political crisis since July 25, when President Kais Said imposed exceptional measures, including freezing the powers of parliament (before deciding to dissolve it on March 30), enacting laws with presidential decrees and dissolving the Supreme Council of the Judiciary.
The majority of political forces in Tunisia reject Said’s decisions, calling them a “coup against the constitution,” while other forces support them, seeing them as a “recovery of the 2011 revolution process,” which toppled the regime of former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (1987-2011).
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