Al-Jazeera Says Tunisian Police Storm Their Office in Tunis

This comes after Tunisian President Kais Saied dismissed the government late on Sunday in a move his rivals have described as a coup.

Tunisian police have stormed the Al-Jazeera television office in the capital Tunis on Monday, the channel reported. 

"...They asked all journalists to turn off their phones and then removed the staff from the building," Al Jazeera's bureau chief Lutfi Hajji said.

Some 20 Tunisian officers were involved in the raid, he added. They prevented the staff from taking personal belongings and confiscated the keys to the building, according to the report. 

Security agents in #Tunisia break into #AlJazeera bureau, and force colleagues to evacuate.
They stormed our bureau without any prior notice. pic.twitter.com/hTW0aRrarJ

— Wajd Waqfi وجد وقفي (@WajdWaqfi) July 26, 2021

​This comes in the wake of Tunisian President Kais Saied's decision late on Sunday to suspend parliament and dismiss Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi following mass protests which had taken place across Tunisia over the government's handling of the coronavirus pandemic and the economy. 

The president said that he would assume executive authority with the help of a new prime minister. 

Supporters of Tunisia's President Kais Saied gather as a police officer stands guard near the parliament building in Tunis, Tunisia, July 26, 2021.

© REUTERS / ZOUBEIR SOUISSI

Saied's rivals condemned the move as an attack on democracy and considered it a coup. However, many people welcomed Saied's decision with celebrations on the streets. 

TUNISIA: Crowds take to streets in Tunis tonight to celebrate President decision of dismissing Gov. , firing PM & freezing parliament.

Major political upheaval. Islamist Opposition calling it a “coup”, reports on airport & borders closures: pic.twitter.com/HSdsf1tKXU

— Joyce Karam (@Joyce_Karam) July 25, 2021

​Tunisia has been crippled by political instability and economic crisis for years, and the situation got even worse amid political disputes between Saied, who was elected in 2019, and Mechichi, who became the prime minister last year.