And to commemorate April 9, the Feast of Martyrs, in the midst of a strong security presence at the entrances to the main street of the capital Tunis.
Hundreds of people took part in a demonstration in the center of the Tunisian capital on Sunday to commemorate Martyrs’ Day and demand a “return to the constitutional path” in the country.
The rally was held in front of the Municipal Theater on Avenue Habib Bourguiba in the center of the capital, at the invitation of the “Citizens Against the Coup” initiative.
The protest took place amid a heavy security presence on the capital’s main street and at nearby entrances leading to it.
The demonstrators chanted slogans against the Tunisian President, including “The people want what they don’t want”, “Down with the coup”, “Freedoms…Freedoms, the police state is outdated”, or even “constitution, freedom, national dignity”.
This action also comes in commemoration of the Feast of Martyrs, celebrated every April 9.
Tunisia commemorated, on Saturday, the 84th anniversary of the events of April 9, 1938, when riots took place resulting in the death of 22 Tunisians during a bloody shooting, to suppress demonstrations demanding the institution of a parliament within Tunisia still under French protectorate.
“Citizens Against the Coup” is a popular initiative that presented a proposed roadmap to end the political crisis in Tunisia, including the holding of early presidential and legislative elections in the second half of 2022.
Tunisia has been going through a serious political crisis since last July 25, when President Kais Saïed had imposed exceptional measures, in particular: freezing the powers of Parliament (before taking the decision to dissolve it on March 30), enacting laws with decrees presidential elections, and dissolve the Superior Council of the Judiciary.
The majority of political forces in Tunisia reject Saïed’s decisions, and consider them a “coup against the Constitution”, while other forces support them, considering them as a “redress of the process of the 2011 revolution”, that overthrew the regime of ex-president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (1987-2011).
