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Tunisia's President Suspends Parliament

VOA News

   Tunisian troops blocked the head of parliament from entering the
   building early Monday, hours after President Kais Saied announced he
   had firedPrime Minister Hichem Mechichiand suspended parliament for 30
   days.

   Saied said he was acting in response to the country's economic woes and
   politicaldeadlock andaddedthat thecountry's constitutiongave him that
   authority.

   Rached Ghannouchi, the parliament speaker and head of the Ennahdha
   party, called the president's actions a "coup" and said the legislature
   would continue its work.

   Two other main parties in parliament also called it a coup, which the
   president rejected.

   Saied's announcement drew crowds of demonstrators into the streets in
   the capital, Tunis, and elsewhere to celebrate.

   There were also protesters outside the parliament building and some
   clashes between the opposing groups.

   Al-Jazeera said police stormed the news agency's bureau in Tunis on
   Monday, ordered all staff to leave and confiscated reporters' phones
   and other equipment.

   Tunisia has struggled economically for years, and along with political
   disfunction,it has dealt with a spike in COVID-19 casesand deaths.

   Some information for this report came from the Associated Press, AFP
   and Reuters.

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