Tunisia’s president has been accused of staging a coup by his opponents after he dismissed the prime minister and froze parliament following violent demonstrations over the country’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a statement on Tunisia’s state television, President Kais Saied said he would assume executive authority with the support of a new prime minister after sacking Prime Minister Hicham Mechichi.
After the announcement, crowds of people flooded the capital and other cities to support the president, cheering and honking car horns in scenes that recalled the revolution, which triggered the Arab Spring protests across the Middle East.
It is the biggest challenge yet to the democratic constitution Tunisia introduced in a 2011 revolution that split powers between the president, prime minister and parliament.
Meanwhile, the leader of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, the biggest in parliament, called on Tunisians to take to the streets to stop what he called “a coup against the revolution and constitution”.
Former president Moncef Marzouki also joined Ennahda in labelling Mr Saied’s move a coup.
Since the start of the pandemic, Tunisia has reported 563,000 cases and 18,369 deaths – but in the last month, it has seen its biggest spike with 5,625 cases on 24 July.
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