TUNIS: More than a thousand Tunisians rallied on Sunday decrying what they said was a misuse of power by President Kais Saied and his proposed constitutional reforms.
“Get out,” protesters in the capital Tunis shouted at a rally organised by the Ennahdha party that dominated the now-dissolved parliament, and a movement named “Citizens Against the Coup”.
Saied — a former law professor elected in 2019 amid public anger against the political class — on July 25 last year sacked the government, froze the assembly and seized wide-ranging powers.
He later gave himself powers to rule and legislate by decree and seized control over the judiciary.
“The people want to dismiss the president,” the crowds chanted, many waving national flags. “Down with the coup.”
Last month, the president dissolved parliament, dealing another blow to the political system in place since the North African country’s 2011 revolt, which sparked the Arab Spring uprisings in the region.
“There is no democracy without legislative power,” shouted other protesters, who defied a large deployment of riot police to take to the streets.
Saied has been repeatedly criticised by Western governments and rights groups for his moves, which have sparked fears of a return to autocracy 11 years after the overthrow of ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
13 MIGRANTS KILLED: Meanwhile, Tunisian authorities recovered the bodies of 13 migrants, including six women and six children, after their boats capsized trying to make the dangerous sea crossing to Italy, a court official said on Saturday.
The migrants were all from sub-Saharan Africa and had set off in two boats, said Mourad Turki, spokesman for the court in the Mediterranean port city of Sfax.
Rescuers pulled 37 migrants from the water on Friday and Saturday but a dozen more remained unaccounted for, he said.
Tunisia and neighbouring Libya are key departure points for migrants seeking to reach European shores, often in vessels that are barely seaworthy.
The United Nations’ refugee agency UNHCR has said that around 1,300 migrants drowned or went missing in the central Mediterranean in 2021, making it the world’s deadliest migration route.
The International Organization for Migration estimates that more than 18,000 migrants have died or disappeared while attempting to make the crossing since 2014. – AFP