Tunis – Tunisia’s main opposition alliance on Sunday warned that freedom of assembly and expression were under threat, after police tried to prevent a rally against President Kais Saied.
Images on news websites and social media in the North African nation showed police on Sunday trying to block a rally by the National Salvation Front on the streets of Mnihla, a suburb of the capital Tunis.
Police were seen in several videos surrounding National Salvation Front president Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, before he was set to address a crowd of several dozen people.
Other footage appeared to show Saied supporters calling Chebbi, a left-wing politician who served prison time under former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a “traitor”.
In July 2021, Saied sacked the government, froze parliament and seized far-reaching executive powers, later grabbing control of the judiciary — moves opponents said aimed to install a new dictatorship in the birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings.
The opposition alliance – which includes Saied’s nemesis, the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party – decried “threats to the right to expression and assembly”.
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“We denounce the attack by members of Kais Saied’s militias and their use of physical and verbal violence”, a statement said.
The rally went ahead “despite attempts by the authorities to prevent” it, the statement added, urging strong attendance at a protest planned on January 14 to mark the anniversary of Ben Ali’s flight into exile.
On Tuesday, the National Salvation Front said Saied’s administration was using the judiciary to close down opposition, after investigations were opened against its members.
Chebbi last month called for Saied to step down, after a December election to a neutered parliament drew a turnout of little more than 11 percent.
Tunisia is also mired in an economic crisis that has seen repeated shortages of essential goods and rising inflation.
The central bank chief said on Wednesday that the country faces a year of low economic growth and runaway inflation, and urgently needs a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@radwan_madmoudi
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