Protests grip Tunisia after president's decision to take full power

Tunisia is experiencing its worst political crisis since the Arab Spring. President Qais Said suspended parliament and took executive powers into his own hands,

On Monday, July 26, mass clashes took place outside the Tunisian parliament building between supporters of Tunisian President Cais Said and supporters of the Islamist An-Nahda (Renaissance) party, which is headed by Parliament Speaker Rashid al-Ghannouchi. The cause of the unrest was Said's unprecedented decision to concentrate power in his hands, taken the day before.

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On Monday night, the HEAD of state in a televised address said that after consulting with the speaker of parliament and the prime minister, he had decided to suspend the activities of parliament (at the same time, al-Ghannouchi said on Monday that he had not taken part in any consultations, and the head of the cabinet, Hisham Mashishi, did not comment). “The first decision I had to make a few months ago concerns the parliament, which is the decision to suspend all its activities,” Said said. He also announced the removal of immunity from deputies and his decision to head the prosecutor's office. In addition, the president assumed full executive power in the country by dismissing Mashishi. Said promised that a new prime minister would be appointed, but this did not happen on Monday.

Said, who is a specialist in constitutional law, said that all his actions are in line with the Tunisian Constitution adopted in 2014, which "does not provide for its [parliament's] dissolution, but does not prevent the suspension of its activities." Later, the Office of the President specified that the work of the Parliament was frozen for 30 days. Saeed also said that all these measures are being taken "until public peace returns to Tunisia and until we save the country."

After the president's televised address, the military, on his orders, surrounded the parliament building and other strategically important state facilities. 80-year-old al-Ghannoushi was not allowed into parliament - he intended, together with other deputies, to challenge the decisions of the head of state. An-Nahda has the largest faction in parliament and controls a quarter of the seats. The Qatari TV channel Al Jazeera, which actively covers events in Tunisia, reported on the storming of its Tunisian office by the police on Monday. About 20 representatives of law enforcement agencies told journalists about the need to stop working, and explained their actions by a COURT decision.

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