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Protesters waved Tunisian flags and held up signs criticizing Ennahdha.
Thousands of supporters of Tunisian President Kais Saied have gathered in the capital to show their support for his suspension from parliament and pledges to change the political system, acts his critics call a coup.
The protest in central Tunis was called in response to protests against Saied’s actions over the previous two weekends at the same location.
On Sunday, demonstrators waved Tunisian flags and held up placards against Ennahdha, the “Muslim Democrat” party which is the most prominent in parliament and has been Saied’s main antagonist.
“We call on the president to dissolve parliament and hold accountable those who have made the people suffer for a decade,” said Salem Ajoudi, one of the protesters.
Another protester, Adel Chemli, said Al Jazeera chairman Saied was the right person to pull the country out of the current crisis.
“Today is a historic day. It is the first time that the majority of the people are with its president. I have known Saied for 40 years. I was in law school with him, I came from Canada to support him. I am almost 60 years old, I do this for young people for their future, ”said Chemli.
Bernard Smith of Al Jazeera, in a report from the capital Tunis, said several protests were taking place in the North African country.
“There are other protests taking place across Tunisia, all to show their support for the president,” Smith said. “These protests must show that there is still support for what the president is doing. This despite the fact that there is still no plan to get Tunisia out of the dire economic situation in which it finds itself. “
In July, the president plunged Tunisia into a constitutional crisis by suspending the elected parliament, sacking the prime minister and assuming executive power.
Last month he dismissed much of the constitution to say he could pass legislation by decree, questioning Tunisia’s democratic gains since its 2011 revolution that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings.
Saied’s intervention follows years of economic stagnation and political paralysis, made worse by depleting lockdown last year, a slow-starting vaccination campaign and street protests.
Many Tunisians attribute these evils to a corrupt and selfish political elite, and they view Saied, an independent elected in 2019, as a champion of the people.
“We are against parliament, we are with Kais Saied. He is fixing and fixing our system. He is a democratic man, ”Amel ben Amar, a public sector worker, told Al Jazeera during the protest.
While opinion polls show Saied’s measures enjoy broad support, his long delay in declaring a crisis exit timeline has started to cement opposition to him.
Tunisian police on Sunday arrested a member of parliament and a TV presenter who have criticized Saied since July, their lawyer said.
The lawyer, Samir Ben Omar, said that military justice had ordered the arrests, accusing the two men of “conspiracy against state security and insulting the army” after airing a program on the channel. television station Zaytouna.
Aloui Abdellatif is a member of the conservative religious party Karama and Ameur Ayed is a host on Zaytouna. On the show, they sharply criticized Saied and called him a traitor.
Additional report by Elizia Volkmann in Tunis.
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