Thousands of Tunisians demonstrated on Friday to protest the “severe setback in freedoms and rights,” to demand the release of politicians and journalists imprisoned for their opposition positions, and to prevent intimidation against candidates in the presidential elections.
Reuters described the demonstration as one of the largest protests since last year against the president. Qais Saeedwho tightened his grip on power, and began ruling by decree in 2021, in a move the opposition described as a coup.
The Tunisian Network for Rights and Freedoms, which includes leftist and social parties and civil society organizations, called for the demonstration.
The participants in the march raised slogans calling for the return of democracy, confronting the deviation of the authorities, and stopping the targeting of politicians, human rights activists, and media professionals.
In turn, Agence France-Presse said that the majority of the demonstrators were young people and women, and they chanted slogans such as “Qais Saeed is a dictator,” “Freedoms, freedoms, the police state is over,” and “Leave, leave Saeed.”
The same agency says that Saied has monopolized power in the country since July 2021, and is seeking to win a second term in the elections scheduled for next October 6, in which the electoral commission disqualified 3 candidates from the race, even though the administrative court approved the legitimacy of their candidacy files.