Tunisia to reduce curfew hours as of Sunday

By Alaa Hammoudi

TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) – Tunisian President Kais Saied has issued a presidential decree to reduce the curfew hours as of Sunday, according to a statement by the Tunisian Presidency.

The latest curfew hours will start from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. local time.

The current curfew hours announced on July 26 start from 7 p.m. and end at 6 a.m. local time.

The decree also imposed a ban on all kinds of demonstrations and mass gatherings whether private or public in open and closed spaces.

Tunisia is undergoing a severe crisis as Saied on Sunday dismissed the government of Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, froze the parliament and assumed executive authority with the assistance of a new prime minister.

The move was rejected by most of Tunisia's parliamentary blocs, including the moderate Islamist Ennahda Party, which decried Saied’s decisions as a “coup”.

Tunisia is seen as the only country that succeeded in carrying out a democratic transition among a group of Arab countries that witnessed popular revolutions that toppled their ruling regimes, including Egypt, Libya, and Yemen.

*Writing by Ibrahim Mukhtar in Ankara