Hundreds of opponents call on President Kaïs Saïed to “release the detainees”

“Down with the coup!” Several hundred demonstrators gathered on Sunday March 5 in the center of Tunis (Tunisia) to demand the release of more than 20 opponents of President Kaïs Saïed, arrested in recent weeks in an unprecedented dragnet.

>> “It’s an explosion of hatred”: how Tunisia is set ablaze around sub-Saharan immigration after the words of President Kaïs Saïed

“Freedom, freedom, freedom for the detainees”, notably chanted supporters of the National Salvation Front (FSN), the main opposition coalition, waving the Tunisian flag and photos of detainees. The FSN, whose leader Jawhar Ben Mbarek, is among the arrested political opponents, had called for “a massive demonstration”.

Several Tunisian personalities arrested

In early February, the authorities launched a crackdown on political figures, including several ex-ministers and leaders of Ennahdha, well-known businessmen such as Kamel Eltaïef, and the director of Radio Mosaïque, the most listened to in Tunisia. , Noureddine Boutar, accusing them of “conspiracy against state security”.

This wave of arrests, unprecedented since the coup by President Kaïs Saïed, who has granted himself all powers since July 25, 2021, has been described by Amnesty International as a “politically motivated witch hunt”. Since the summer of 2021, NGOs and major opposition parties have denounced a “authoritarian drift” in Tunisia, shaking the young democracy that emerged from the first Arab Spring revolt in 2011.