Democracy Is Teetering In Tunisia, The Country Where The Arab Spring Began

https://www.npr.org/2021/07/27/ [login to see] /tunisias-nascent-democracy-is-in-crisis-but-trouble-has-been-brewing-for-a-decad
A power struggle in Tunisia threatens the fragile democracy that was one of the few bright spots of the 2011 Arab Spring, the movement to oust dictators across the Middle East.

Over the weekend, President Kais Saied plunged the country into crisis after shutting down parliament for a period of 30 days and firing the prime minister as well as the country's defense and justice ministers. He was helped by the military, who have surrounded parliament. A night time curfew has been imposed and gatherings of more than three people are forbidden.

Saied, an independent who was elected in 2019, justified the moves citing the constitution, saying they were necessary after mass protests on Sunday turned violent. Demonstrators across the country mobilized over the weekend demanding the resignation of the prime minister and his cabinet over its alleged mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic and the country's near-economic collapse.

Critics have labelled it a coup. They say the president, who now controls the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the government, is reestablishing the same type of authoritarian government the revolution ousted a decade ago.