Thousands are protesting the President’s policies, accusing him of trying to suppress fundamental freedoms, including trade union rights.
Thousands of Tunisian trade unionists have protested across the country against the deepening economic crisis and the arrest of a top union official.
The North African country is in lengthy talks with the International Monetary Fund over a bailout loan that could trigger painful austerity measures, after warnings from the powerful labor union UGTT.
Demonstrators in Sfax, where Saturday’s biggest protest took place, chanted “Tunisia is not for sale!” and “No to subsidy cuts!”
Some raised loaves of bread as a symbol of protest against the rising cost of living.
The eight-city protests marked an escalation of the union’s confrontation with Tunisian President Kais Saied and followed its criticism of the recent arrest of several anti-government figures, including politicians, a journalist, two judges and a senior UGTT official.
The coordinated arrests have sparked fears of a broader crackdown on dissidents, prompting the UN Human Rights Office to call for the immediate release of those arrested.
The protesters called for the release of senior UGTT official Anis Kaabi, who was arrested on January 31 following a strike by tollbooth workers in what the union described as “a blow to union work and a violation of union rights”.
Othmane Jallouli, the deputy leader of the UGTT, told the protesters that “the government has failed to put the country on the path of economic and social reforms. All she has managed to do is attack the union.”
A supporter of the Tunisian General Union (UGTT) carries bread while shouting slogans during a protest against President Kais Saied’s policies in Sfax, Tunisia [Jihed Abidellaoui/Reuters]
The latest protests came a year and a half after Saied toppled the government and took almost complete power in the birthplace of the 2011 pro-democracy uprising that rocked the Arab world.
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Since these steps, which opponents have described as a coup d’état, Saied has repeatedly been accused of having dragged the country back into authoritarianism.
“Today, any union member can be fired just for speaking out,” Jallouli said.
After the protest, Tunisia expelled the chair of the European Trade Union Confederation after taking part in it.
President Kais Saied declared Irish woman Esther Lynch an undesirable person and said she must leave Tunisia within 24 hours. Her participation in the protests and statements she made there were “blatant interference in Tunisian affairs,” the government said.
Earlier, Lynch addressed the crowd in Sfax and conveyed a message of “solidarity from 45 million workers across Europe”.
“We’re telling governments: Hands off our unions, free our leaders,” Lynch said.
The government must “get together and negotiate a solution with the UGTT” for Tunisia’s problems, she said, adding that the UGTT “represents workers who are struggling to make ends meet”.
Political analyst Tarek Kahlaoui told Al Jazeera from Tunis that the UGTT is shaking up its base at the same time: “They are reaching a point where they are closing the political initiative of dialogue.
“They are trying to have a dialogue with the President. Until then, I don’t think we will have cohesion in Tunisian opposition groups between civil society and political groups. There are still major divisions within the political landscape in Tunisia,” said Kahlaoui.
Highly indebted and dependent on imports, Tunisia is in the grip of a long-running economic crisis that has worsened since Russia invaded Ukraine, with regular shortages of staples from sugar to petrol.
UGTT members protested simultaneously with the Sfax demonstration across Tunisia, from Tozeur in the south to Bizerte in the north.
More demonstrations are planned in other cities in the coming days and will end with a rally in the capital Tunis early next month.
Kaabi is on trial February 23 for “using his position to harm authorities.”
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