TUNISIA: Chants that helped shape Tunisia's 2011 revolution returned to the streets on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, as thousands of protesters demanded President Kais Saied's resignation, voicing anger over worsening economic conditions, political restrictions and the growing concentration of power in his hands.
The demonstration, one of the largest recent anti-government protests in the country, brought together opposition supporters, lawyers, doctors, journalists and unemployed citizens in the capital. Organizers said the rally reflected mounting frustration over the government's policies and restrictions on civil liberties.
Protesters gathered along Habib Bourguiba Avenue, a central thoroughfare that became a focal point of the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Reviving a slogan associated with that revolution, demonstrators called for the fall of the regime. Others highlighted daily hardships, including frequent electricity and water outages, medicine shortages and rising unemployment.
Hundreds of police officers were deployed across the capital as demonstrators chanted, "The prisons are full, people are hungry," expressing anger over the detention of government critics and the country's economic difficulties.
The rally was organized by Tunisia's General Union of Tunisian Workers, known as UGTT, alongside several civil society organizations.
Senior UGTT official Slah Eddine Salmi criticized Saied's concentration of authority, describing it as unacceptable and arguing that a country should not be governed by a single individual.
Saied, who took office in 2019, has faced mounting criticism since 2021, when he assumed sweeping executive powers and dissolved Parliament. He later dismissed dozens of judges, further intensifying concerns about judicial independence and the separation of powers.
Opposition figures have described his actions as a coup, while human rights organizations have raised concerns about pressure on journalists, political opponents and other government critics.
Saied has rejected accusations of authoritarianism. He has blamed the country's economic deterioration on what he describes as deliberate efforts by his opponents to create instability.
Beyond demanding the president's resignation, protesters called for the release of imprisoned government critics and an end to restrictions on trade union activities.
The demonstration highlights the continuing political and economic challenges facing Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring uprisings that spread across the Middle East and North Africa.
More than a decade later, the return of revolutionary slogans signals renewed public anger over governance, economic hardship and political freedoms.
