Tunisia’s powerful UGTT labor union held a rally in the capital on Saturday in what appeared to be the largest protest yet against President Kais Saied, demonstrating strength in the aftermath of his recent crackdown on opponents.
Thousands of protesters marched down Habib Bourguiba Avenue, Tunis’s main thoroughfare, holding banners that read “No to one-man rule!” they chanted. Put an end to the police state “.
They were marching in response to weeks of arrests of prominent opponents of Saied, who has launched his first major crackdown since seizing broad powers in 2021, shutting down parliament and instituting rule by decree.
“Whatever the cost, we will continue to defend freedoms and rights. We are not afraid of prisons or arrests “The crowd was told by UGTT leader Noureddine Taboubi.
“I salute the jurists and politicians imprisoned in Mornaguia,” he added, referring to recent detainees.
Hamma Hammami, head of the Workers Party, said protests were the answer to what he called Saied’s “creeping dictatorship”. “He wants to instill fear in us, but we are not afraid,” he said.
The crackdown is the most severe since Saied’s takeover, and his opponents say it is becoming increasingly clear that he is dismantling the democracy won in the 2011 revolution that triggered the Arab Spring and will end the freedoms it brought.
Saied has denied that his actions were a coup, claiming that they were legal and necessary to keep Tunisia from falling into chaos.
Crackdown
The UGTT was initially slow to criticize Saied while political parties accused him of staging a coup, but as the president consolidated his grip while ignoring the union and other players, it began to openly challenge him.
A senior union official was detained last month for organizing a strike by highway tollbooth operators, prompting the UGTT’s newspaper to accuse Saied of declaring war on the organization and its million members.
This week authorities barred foreign labour union leaders from entering Tunisia to take part in the rally in solidarity with the UGTT, and Saied said he would not accept foreigners joining protests.
The size of Saturday’s rally underscored that the union remains a powerful adversary that Saied may struggle to bat aside as he moves to sideline other opponents in the wake of a parliamentary election that had very low support.
With Tunisia’s economy in crisis, state finances on the brink of bankruptcy, and shortages of key goods, the potential for public anger may grow.
Over recent weeks police have detained more than a dozen prominent opposition figures, mostly tied to the coalition of parties and protesters that is planning to rally on Sunday, accusing them of conspiring against state security.
Those arrested include politicians from the Islamist Ennahda, which was the biggest party in the shuttered parliament, leaders of a protest group, the head of Tunisia’s main independent media outlet, and a prominent businessman.
“Saied is threatening everyone here. Parties, civil society, and unions. All freedoms … Tunisians are here to say we cannot accept populism and nascent dictatorship,” said Najeh Zidi, a teacher at the protest.
