Tunisian protesters denounce 'coup', demand president's removal

Thousands of Tunisians demonstrated in the capital Tunis, denouncing a power grab by President Kais Saied and demanding accountability for the country's long-running economic crisis.

Saied staged a dramatic power grab in July last year and later pushed through a constitution enshrining his one-man rule, in what critics have called a return to autocracy in the only democracy to have emerged from the Arab Spring.

Protesters in central Tunis chanted, "Down, down", "Revolution against dictator Kais" and "The coup will fall."

The march was organised by the National Salvation Front, a coalition of opposition parties including the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha that had dominated Tunisia's parliament before its dissolution by Saied.

Saied's power grab was welcomed by some Tunisians tired of what they saw as a fractious and corrupt system established after the 2011 revolution that ousted late dictator Zine El Abidine Ali.

But a worsening economic situation, compounded by supply shortages in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, has agitated many in the North African country of 12 million.

The National Salvation Front has announced it will boycott a December vote to elect a new parliament with limited powers.

Ennahdha's deep ideological rival, the secular Free Destourian Party (PDL), also organised a protest in the capital.

Around 1,500 people joined the Ennahda-led demonstration, while nearly 1,000 attended the PDL protest, the interior ministry said.