Tunisian Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi slammed President Kais Saied for launching a coup against the constitution after Saied suspended parliament and dismissed Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi.

“Our institutions are not something we build one day and take down the next. This is an institution that’s elected by and represents the people; we consider Parliament to be in permanent session, the government and all state institutions should be in place,” Ghannouchi said.

“We are not fearful. We are with our people, and we stand for justice, freedom, the rule of law, and institutions. We will not give in to going back to past eras.”

“Yes, there are economic difficulties which pushed some of our youth to protest as guaranteed by the Constitution, but exploiting this to suppress democracy and obstruct the Constitution and national institutions particularly Parliament is the trademark of dictatorships,” he added. (ILKHA)