Tunisian president OUSTS government, warns opponents that ‘army will respond with bullets’ if they try to unleash street violence

Following an emergency meeting at his palace on Sunday night, President Kais Saied announced his decision to sack prime minister Hichem Mechichi and suspend the parliament. In a televised address, he promised to consolidate power and “save” the country with the help of a new PM.

We have taken these decisions… until social peace returns to Tunisia and until we save the state.

Hundreds of people, who had rallied against the government earlier in the day, celebrated this drastic move in the streets, cheering, honking and singing, as military vehicles surrounded the parliament building and the state television.

The parliament speaker and leader of the Muslim Brotherhood-inspired ‘moderate’ Islamist Ennahda party, Rached Ghannouchi, has defied the order but was blocked from entering the parliament. Ghannouchi denounced Saied’s move as “a coup against the revolution and constitution,” and called for street protests in a video message to supporters.

We consider the institutions still standing, and the supporters of the Ennahda and the Tunisian people will defend the revolution.

Saied, however, warned his political opponents against unleashing street violence, saying that the military won’t hesitate to use guns to quell the unrest if it turns deadly.

I warn any who think of resorting to weapons… and whoever shoots a bullet, the armed forces will respond with bullets.

Under the constitution, Tunisian president is only directly responsible for military affairs and foreign relations, but last week he put the army in charge of the Covid-19 pandemic response – after PM Mechichi sacked the health minister, blaming him for the collapse of the country’s healthcare system.

Also on rt.com Tunisian army to take control of Covid crisis as country grapples with healthcare system failures

Praised as the cradle of the Arab Spring, Tunisia adopted its new constitution in 2014, but it still has no constitutional court to settle disputes, and consistently fails to form a stable government. President Saied and the parliament were both elected by popular votes in 2019, while Mechichi took office last year. Ghannouchi’s Ennahda, banned before the 2011 uprising, has since become the dominant force in parliament, locked in constant political rivalry with the president and the PM.

Angered by the ‘dysfunctional’ political system and the collapsing economy, thousands of protesters, not openly backed by any of the major political forces, once again rallied in the capital Tunis and other cities on Sunday.

The protests erupted in clashes, as the mob tried to storm the Ennahda party offices, forcing police to deploy tear gas. The violence apparently become the last straw that prompted Saied to take his radical step.

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