Tunisians protest inflation, president’s squeeze on dissent

By BOUAZZA BEN BOUAZZA
Associated Press

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Thousands of people have marched through Tunisia’s capital to decry an expanding crackdown on opposition voices and a proposed lifting of food subsidies. The march on Saturday was the latest challenge to Tunisian President Kais Saied. Since taking office in October 2019, Saied has consolidated his power, dismantled the country’s democratic gains and unleashed repression against migrants from elsewhere in Africa. The Tunisian General Labour Union, which is known by its French acronym UGTT, organized the march. The powerful central trade union The UGTT was one of a ‘’quartet″ of groups that won the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize for their work to save Tunisia’s budding democracy from collapsing into civil war.