Clashes erupt in Tunisia after PM’s ouster

Street clashes erupt outside Tunisia’s army-barricaded parliament, a day after President Kais Saied ousted the prime minister and suspended the legislature, plunging the young democracy into a constitutional crisis.

Saied fired Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi and ordered parliament closed for 30 days, a move the biggest political party Ennahdha decried as a “coup,” following a day of angry street protests against the government’s handling of the Covid pandemic.

Soldiers from early Monday blockade the assembly in Tunis while, outside, the president’s backers hurl stones, bottles and insults at supporters of the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha, whose leader was barred entry to the complex.

Troops also surround the office of Mechichi, who is yet to officially react to the events rocking the North African country.