TUNIS – Tunisia’s president Kais Saied said he decided on Sunday to freeze the Tunisian parliament, suspend the immunity of all deputies, and dismiss Prime Minister Hicham Mechichi after violent protests in several Tunisian cities.
Saied added that he will assume the presidency of the executive authority with the assistance of a new prime minister.
Police and protesters clashed in several Tunisian cities Sunday as demonstrators demanding the government step down attacked offices of Ennahda, the moderate Islamist party that is the biggest in parliament.
Witnesses were quoted by Reuters as saying protesters stormed, or tried to storm Ennahda offices in Monastir, Sfax, El Kef and Sousse, while in Touzeur they set fire to the party’s local headquarters.
The violence came as hundreds of protesters rallied in each of the main cities after a spike in Covid-19 cases that has aggravated economic troubles and exposed the failings of a squabbling political class.
The protests, the biggest in Tunisia for months and the biggest to target Ennahda for years, were called by social media activists.
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