Riot police have been deployed in massive numbers to separate the teams in Tunis.
Opponents of Tunisian President Kais Saied have protested on the streets of the capital Tunis, accusing him of utilizing the judiciary and police to suppress critics, whereas his supporters have held a counter-rally, highlighting a deepening political divide wracking the nation.
The anti-Saied demonstration – the second opposition protest in every week – displays rising concern amongst human rights teams that the birthplace of the Arab Spring is sliding in the direction of an autocracy.
Demonstrators on the capital’s primary thoroughfare chanted slogans similar to “Saied go away, you’re a dictator” and “The individuals need the autumn of the regime,” a slogan that evoked the 2011 rebellion – the primary within the area in a yr of tumult, and which toppled former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
On the identical road, Habib Bourguiba Avenue, Saied’s supporters rallied in his defence, chanting, “No to international interference” and “The individuals need Saied once more.”
Riot police have been deployed in massive numbers to separate the teams. No clashes have been reported as of but.
The demonstrations observe a months-long authorities crackdown on Saied’s critics, together with the detention final week of distinguished lawyer Ahmed Souab, a fierce critic of the president.
On Thursday, the anti-Saeid protesters marched from the headquarters of the Administrative Court docket, the place Souab had served as a choose earlier than retiring and changing into a lawyer extensively revered by all political events.
They then joined different protesters in a sq. that’s dwelling to the headquarters of the highly effective UGTT union, earlier than heading in the direction of Habib Bourguiba Avenue.
Souab’s arrest adopted jail sentences handed down final week to opposition leaders on conspiracy expenses, drawing criticism from France, Germany, and the United Nations.
Saied rejected the criticism, calling it a blatant interference in Tunisia’s sovereignty.
The opposition accuses Saied of undermining the democracy gained within the 2011 revolution, since he seized further powers in 2021 when he shut down the elected parliament and moved to rule by decree earlier than assuming authority over the judiciary.
They described his transfer as a coup, whereas Saied says it was authorized and crucial to finish chaos and rampant corruption.
The leaders of most political events in Tunisia are in jail.
The federal government says there’s democracy in Tunisia. Saied says he is not going to be a dictator however insists that what he calls a corrupt elite have to be held accountable.
