TUNIS: Thousands of Tunisians protesting against President Kais Saied’s seizure of political power four months ago tried to march on the suspended parliament on Sunday, as hundreds of police blocked off the area.

Protesters briefly clashed with police as they tried to remove barriers near the chamber and demanded that Saied restore parliament and normal democratic rule.

“We will not accept a new dictator... we will not back down,” said Foued Ben Salem, a protester, raising Tunisia’s red-and-white national flag. Increasingly vocal opposition, along with a looming crisis in public finances, may pose a new test of how Saied and the new government he has appointed will tackle threats to their authority. “Shut down Kais Saied” and “Freedom! Freedom! End the police state!” protesters chanted as they pulled down barriers obstructing the roads leading to the parliament building at the capital’s Bardo palace. “We are under one-man rule since July 25... we will stay here until they open the roads and end the siege,” said Jawher Ben Mbarek, a protest leader.

RULE BY DECREE

Saied seized nearly all powers in July, suspending the parliament and dismissing the government in a move his critics called a coup, before installing a new prime minister and announcing he could rule by decree.