Tunisian President Kais Saied has announced on Sunday that he had dismissed the country’s prime minister and frozen the parliament amidst mass protests in the country. Sunday’s protests were the largest in months and the biggest to target Ennahda in years
- The move that comes on the 64th anniversary of Tunisia’s independence escalates Saied’s longstanding feud with Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and poses a challenge to the 2014 constitution.
- Cheering crowds quickly flooded the streets of the capital Tunis after the announcement, celebrating and honking car horns in scenes that recalled the 2011 revolution that brought democracy and triggered the Arab spring protests that convulsed the Middle East.
- Saied defended his decision as in line with the constitution and said he would assume executive authority alongside a new prime minister. Saied also suspended the legal immunity of members of parliament.
- “Many people were deceived by hypocrisy, treachery and robbery of the rights of the people,” Saied said in a statement on state media. “I warn any who think of resorting to weapons… and whoever shoots a bullet, the armed forces will respond with bullets,” he added.
The speaker of Tunisia’s parliament and the leader of the Ennahda party, Rached Ghannouchi told the media that the president had launched a “coup against the revolution and constitution.”
