By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Authorities in Tunisia on Thursday announced a ban on protest by the country’s main opposition coalition, accusing senior members of plans to commit crimes against the state.
A state official, Kamel Feki said a request by the “so-called National Salvation Front” to hold a march on Sunday had “not been approved as some of its leaders are suspected of plotting against state security”.
The National Salvation Front (NSF) had called for a protest on Sunday against “political arrests and violations against public and individual freedoms”.
At least 20 political figures have been arrested in Tunisia in recent weeks, a clampdown that targets rivals and critics of President Kais Saied.
According to Tunisian media, two opposition figures, Sadok Chourou and Habib Ellouz, were arrested on Thursday,
Saied has accused those arrested, who include the head of a popular radio station, of “terrorism” and causing recurrent food shortages as well as plotting against the state.
Saied had in 2021 sacked the government and froze parliament in what has been described as power grab. The biggest arrest since then, members of NSF and its main component, the Islamist-leaning Ennahda party have been the major targets.
Ennahda said the arrests were designed to “terrorise the opposition” and called on Tunisians to join the demonstration coming up on Sunday “en masse”.
Amnesty International has called the arrests a “politically motivated witch hunt”.
Two weeks earlier, Saied had ordered Europe’s top union official Esther Lynch to leave the country after she gave a speech at a trade union UGTT’s rally voicing solidarity with Tunisian workers.
