Tens of thousands of Tunisians poured into the streets of the capital shortly after Tunisian President Kais Saied announced the overthrow of the government, to celebrate this move that critics condemned as a coup. Saied's supporters celebrated his decision and the perceived downfall of the Islamic Ennahda movement, the largest party in parliament and his main political rival, with cheers, ululation, honking car horns, and fireworks. This demonstrated that, ten years after the Tunisian revolution of 2011 that led to the establishment of democracy, street activity remains a potential force that could lead to confrontation, especially after Ennahda called on people to protest against Saied.
The crowds that gathered late Sunday night violated the COVID-19 curfew as they congregated in neighborhoods and local towns across Tunisia and along Avenue Habib Bourguiba in the capital, long considered the center of protests. Thousands, including many families, walked along the tree-lined street waving the Tunisian flag, dancing, and lighting red flares. Amira Abed, while kissing the Tunisian flag in downtown Tunis, said, "The president was very brave... We know this is not a coup."
Shortly afterward, Saied himself arrived to meet with his joyful supporters on the same street that witnessed the largest protests during the 2011 revolution, the democratic legacy of which is now at stake. Critics of Saied fear that his move to dismiss the government and freeze parliament is part of a shift away from democracy and a return to the authoritarian rule that Tunisia has suffered in the past, concerns that Saied publicly rejected, denying that he was staging a coup.
As helicopters flew above the crowds supporting the president's actions, people in the streets portrayed Ennahda as the reason for Tunisia's failure to overcome political paralysis and achieve prosperity over the past decade. Young people in the capital sang, "Today, today, Ennahda is finished today." Nearby, as families stood with their children raising their phones to capture the moment, a man walking with his daughter said, "Today is our holiday."
