[Today's Prayer] Anti-government protests in Tunisia, condemning "authoritarian regime"

Anti-government protests have taken place in Tunisia, criticizing President Kais Saied's authoritarian rule.

According to Reuters, hundreds of activists marched in the capital, Tunis, on the 25th (local time) under the slogan "The Republic is a Big Prison," demanding the release of imprisoned opposition leaders, journalists, and activists.

This day marked the fourth anniversary of President Saied declaring a state of emergency and instituting rule by decree.

Protesters chanted, "President Saied's authoritarian regime has turned Tunisia into an open prison," and "The people want the regime to fall."

President Saied, a former constitutional scholar, is criticized for returning Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, to authoritarian rule. Under the pretext of rooting out political corruption and incompetence, he declared a state of emergency in 2021, effectively suspending the legislature and judiciary. He then amended the constitution in 2022 to centralize state power in the hands of the president.

Notably, the amendment granted the president the power to appoint the head of the executive branch, dissolve the National Assembly, appoint judges, and command the military. Furthermore, it exempted the executive branch appointed by the president from a vote of confidence by the National Assembly, leading to criticism that it amounted to a coup.

From February 2023, the police began a series of detentions of opposition figures, accusing them of endangering national security, and the crackdown on critics of the president continued.

(omitted)

Source: Munhwa Ilbo

Brother will deliver brother over to death, and a father his child. Children will rise up against their parents and have them put to death. And you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. (Mark 13:12-13)

God, we hear news that anti-government protests have taken place in Tunisia, demanding the release of opposition leaders, journalists, and activists who were imprisoned for criticizing President Kais Saied's authoritarian rule.

In 2010, the Arab Spring began in Tunisia with the death of a young man who cried out for freedom from political corruption, youth unemployment, and the oppression of an unjust social structure. Fifteen years later, the president has once again seized control of the country's power and is returning to authoritarian rule. May the Lord have mercy on the anxious souls of Tunisians.

Lord, pour out Your vision and passion for Your kingdom among the Tunisian youth who, declaring "We have no future" due to political oppression and control, are pouring out their anger at the regime for having been robbed of their dreams and hopes.

May You grant Tunisia a leader who governs entirely with Your Word and entrusts the nation to You, so that it may become a land united in the love of the cross.

May the global church embrace the saving faith that endures to the end through Your love and the Gospel, and bring life to the souls of Tunisia!

Also, please strengthen the Tunisian church with God's vision so that it can become a church that makes disciples until the Lord returns and steadfastly walks the path of Jesus Christ!

May Tunisia become the key to the kingdom of God that opens the closed doors of the nations, and may countless disciples rise up in Tunisia who follow the holy Lord with the hope of heaven!