Thousands of Tunisians joined the largest protest against President Kais Saied in years in the capital on Saturday, accusing him of undermining democracy and mishandling the economy in a growing challenge to his rule.
The demonstration, led by the major UGTT labour union and civil society groups, comes as Tunisia grapples with an economic crisis, worsening public services, recurring water and power cuts, and shortages of medicines and essential goods, Reuters reported.
Saied seized broad powers in 2021 and 2022, dissolving parliament, dismissing dozens of judges and ruling by decree, moves that opponents described as a coup.
Rights groups say he has intensified a crackdown on civil society, journalists and opposition figures. Saied rejects those allegations, saying he is not a dictator, and has accused his opponents of engineering economic crises to fuel social unrest.
"Silence will no longer be acceptable ... the state cannot built by concentrating all powers in the hand of one person", Slah Eddine Salmi, head of the UGTT, told the rally.
Hundreds of police were deployed across the capital.
Protesters chanted: "No fear, power belongs to the people!" and "The prisons are full, people are hungry!". They also revived the iconic slogan of the 2011 uprising, which in Tunisia was notably peaceful: "The people want the fall of the regime!"
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