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Hundreds of Tunisians marched through the capital city of Tunis on Saturday to protest against President Kais Saied, fiercely condemning his government over a wave of political arrests and a worsening national economic crisis.
Operating under the rally slogan “The people are hungry, and prisons are full,” the demonstrators demanded an immediate end to Saied’s one-man rule.
Banners held throughout the crowd targeted the recent detentions of prominent journalists, politicians, and civil society leaders, highlighting growing public anxiety over a rapidly widening crackdown on political dissent.
In addition to civil liberty concerns, the demonstrators heavily criticised Saied’s failure to manage the country’s severe economic decline.
Tunisia is currently locked in an acute financial crisis characterised by stagnant economic growth, soaring inflation, and severe shortages of necessities like medicine and food.
Critics allege that rather than addressing these systemic issues, the president has weaponised the police force and the judiciary to systematically intimidate and silence his opposition.
President Saied, who dismantled the country’s parliament and shifted to ruling by decree in 2022, has consistently dismissed accusations from international and domestic rights groups that he is dismantling Tunisia’s post-2011 democratic framework.
He maintains that his sweeping measures are entirely legal and necessary to rescue the state from deep-seated corruption and social chaos.
However, pushback continues to mount, with the National Bar Association calling for strikes to protest the loss of judicial independence and the journalists’ union organising upcoming demonstrations against severe restrictions on press freedom.
