- Mexico excludes Spanish king from president's swearing-in
- Meta bets big on celebrity AI voices and augmented reality glasses
- Bus hijacking leaves one dead in Los Angeles
- UN chief raises alarm over Sudan 'escalation' to army leader
- Ecuador firefighters battle blazes choking capital
- CONCACAF chooses West Coast venues for Gold Cup
- Ohtani 50-50 home run ball up for auction
- Trump accuses Zelensky of refusing to strike a deal on war
- Putin proposes broader criteria for using nuclear arms
- Zelensky alleges Russian plot on nuclear plants in defiant UN address
- France's Ubisoft pushes back new 'Assassin's Creed' game to February
- Paris fashion: The Dries dream lives on without Van Noten
- Meta unveils star-studded AI assistants
- DRC leader calls for sanctions on Rwanda over rebel support
- Mud, loss and despair after Polish floods
- England skipper Stokes on track for Pakistan tour
- UN chief warns of 'rising tide of misery' from swelling seas
- Israeli troops on alert to go into Lebanon
- Russian strikes on eastern Ukraine city kill two, wound 19
- Workers 'disappointed' as Volkswagen remains vague on turnaround plan
- Biden warns 'all-out war' possible in Middle East
- Ex-Real Madrid defender and World Cup winner Varane retires
- Nuking a huge asteroid could save Earth, lab experiment suggests
- Six hurt in Ecuador as firefighters battle blazes choking capital
- Florida girds for arrival of Helene as powerful hurricane
- German prosecutors charge three in Schumacher blackmail case
- Restoring nature, 'adaptation' helped limit Storm Boris impact
- Son says Spurs team-mate Bentancur 'almost cried' over alleged racial slur
- French minister vows to 'protect the French' after student rape and murder
- Harris and Trump target economy in close US election battle
- Zelensky alleges Russia plot on nuclear plants in defiant UN address
- 'Worst crisis': German Greens leaders quit after election losses
- Israel puts troops on alert for entry into Lebanon
- 'The UN has betrayed us': Israeli ambassador
- US new home sales slow slightly in August
- UN chief says sea level rise threatens 'rising tide of misery'
- Global stocks mixed after fresh China stimulus
- US-China progress sparks hope for COP29, says Azerbaijan
- Zelensky says Russia planning attacks on Ukraine nuclear plants
- Film legend Bardot, nearing 90, enjoys her 'silent solitude'
- Walking on the Moon in Cologne: Europe's lunar life simulator
- Google files EU complaint over Microsoft cloud services
- Finnish zoo to return pandas to China early
- At last! China's Zhang Shuai ends 24-match losing streak
- Global stocks trade mixed tracking China stimulus
- EU backs plan to downgrade wolf protection status
- Jacks says new-look England need time to master ODIs
- Madrid's Mbappe suffers thigh injury before Atletico derby
- Russian MPs back adoption ban on countries allowing gender reassignment
- France minister vows new immigration 'rules' after student murder
RBGPF | -1.04% | 59.48 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.04% | 25.09 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.22% | 25.065 | $ | |
RYCEF | 0% | 7.07 | $ | |
VOD | -0.3% | 10.06 | $ | |
BCC | -2.69% | 138.07 | $ | |
SCS | -1.86% | 12.88 | $ | |
RIO | 0.37% | 67.67 | $ | |
RELX | -0.32% | 48.375 | $ | |
JRI | -0.26% | 13.385 | $ | |
AZN | 0.86% | 77.54 | $ | |
BTI | -0.36% | 37.965 | $ | |
BCE | -0.72% | 34.88 | $ | |
GSK | -1.04% | 40.56 | $ | |
NGG | -0.01% | 70.1 | $ | |
BP | -3.6% | 31.688 | $ |
2,000 attend new Tunisia opposition alliance demo
A crowd estimated at more than 2,000, lower than expected, took part Sunday in the first demonstration of a new alliance to oppose a power grab by President Kais Saied.
"We shall overcome," and "We are united, not divided," read banners of the National Salvation Front protesters gathered in front of the municipal theatre on Bourguiba Avenue, a traditional hub of demonstrations in central Tunis.
"The people want... respect for the constitution and a return to democracy," they chanted.
Veteran opposition figure Ahmed Nejib Chebbi announced the formation of the new alliance on April 26 to "save" Tunisia from deep crisis following Saied's power grab last year.
Chebbi, 78, was a prominent opponent of dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali's rule.
Demonstrators said they were disappointed by the numbers that turned out for the first public show of support for the alliance.
"A larger crowd" was expected, said Salah Tzaoui, a 57-year-old teacher, especially by those who had lived under Ben Ali who was ousted in a 2011 popular uprising that sparked the Arab Spring revolts around the region.
Saied -- a former law professor elected in 2019 amid public anger against the political class -- on July 25 sacked the government, suspended parliament and seized wide-ranging powers.
He later gave himself powers to rule and legislate by decree, and seized control over the judiciary.
"He wants to govern alone. It's not possible. I'm here for my children and grandchildren," Tzaoui told AFP.
Khaled Benabdelkarim, a 60-year-old fellow teacher who voted for Saied three years ago, said the president had "betrayed the people and stolen democracy. He has no political project, no economic project."
The National Salvation Front comprises five political parties including Saied's nemesis the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, along with five civil society groups involving independent political figures.
Saied's initial power grab was welcomed by many Tunisians sick of the often-stalemated post-revolution political system.
But an increasing array of critics say he has moved the country down a dangerous path back towards autocracy in what was the only democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring.
Saied has argued that the North African country's 2014 constitution allowed him to take "exceptional measures".
H.Seidel--BTB