Tunisia president 'launches coup', suspending elected parliament and dismissing PM

We conclude this live blog for tonight with Reuters' useful timeline below. Stay tuned for our follow up of the dramatic events in Tunisia in the morning

 Tunisian President Kais Saied sacked the government and froze parliament on Sunday in one of Tunisia's biggest political crises since the 2011 revolution that introduced democracy.

Here is a timeline showing Tunisia's bumpy decade of democracy and the path to Saied's decision.

* December 2010 - Vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire after police confiscate his cart. His death and funeral spark protests over unemployment, corruption and repression.

* January 2011 - Autocrat Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali flees to Saudi Arabia, as Tunisia’s revolution triggers uprisings across the Arab world.

* October 2011 - Moderate Islamist party Ennahda, banned under Ben Ali, wins most seats and forms a coalition with secular parties to plan a new constitution.

* March 2012 - Growing polarisation emerges between Islamists and secularists, particularly over women’s rights, as Ennahda pledges to keep Islamic law out of the new constitution.

* February 2013 - Secular opposition leader Chokri Belaid is assassinated, prompting street protests and the resignation of the prime minister. Jihadists mount attacks on police.

* December 2013 - Ennahdha cedes power after mass protests and a national dialogue, to be replaced by a technocratic government.

* January 2014 - Parliament approves a new constitution guaranteeing personal freedoms and rights for minorities, and splitting power between the president and prime minister.

* December 2014 - Beji Caid Essebsi wins Tunisia’s first free presidential election. Ennahda joins the ruling coalition.

* March 2015 - Islamic State attacks on the Bardo Museum in Tunis kill 22 people. In June a gunman kills 38 at a beach resort in Sousse.

The attacks devastate the vital tourism sector and are followed by a suicide bombing in November that kills 12 soldiers.

* March 2016 - The army turns the tide against the jihadist threat by defeating dozens of Islamic State fighters who rampage into a southern town from across the Libyan border.

* December 2017 - The economy approaches crisis point as the trade deficit soars and the currency slides.

* October 2019 - Voters show dissatisfaction with the major parties, first electing a deeply fractured parliament and then political outsider Kais Saied as president.

* January 2020 - After months of failed attempts to form a government, Elyes Fakhfakh becomes prime minister but is forced out within months over a corruption scandal.

* August 2020 - Saied designates Hichem Mechichi as prime minister. He quickly falls out with the president and his fragile government lurches from crisis to crisis as it struggles to deal with the pandemic and the need for urgent reforms.

* January 2021 - A decade on from the revolution, new protests engulf Tunisian cities in response to accusations of police violence and after the pandemic devastates an already weak economy.

* July 2021 - Saied dismisses the government, freezes parliament and says he will rule alongside the new prime minister citing an emergency section of the constitution that is dismissed by Ennahda and others in parliament as a coup.

Former President Moncef Marzouki also uses the term 'coup' to describe tonight's events, saying he has hope the Tunisian people will reject what happened

Tunisia's presidency said on Sunday that the order to freeze the activities of the country's parliament, announced earlier in the evening, would last for 30 days (Reuters)

Military vehicles surround Tunisian parliament building after president announces its activities frozen, two witnesses say (Reuters)

Unconfirmed reports suggest Tunisia has shut down airport and borders after president sacked prime minister and suspended parliament

'Protesters' attempt to storm Ennahda's HQ despite Covid-19 curfew (/Al-Araby al-Jadeed correspondent in Tunis).

In statements to Al-Araby al-Jadeed, our Arabic edition, Ennahda leader and Ghannoushi's political advisor Riad al-Shu'aibi said "what happened is a coup against the constitution and state institutions, seizing powers that the constitution does not grant to (President Kais) Saeid, including suspending parliament and lifting immunity from MPs", adding that assuming broad executive powers "reminds us of the power grab by dictatorships following coups". 

"It seems that what happened today, including the attack (by protesters) on Ennahda offices was planned, to create unrest to justify the decisions taken by the president", he added.

Ennahda, he continued, rejects all these measures and calls on all forces opposed to them to make themselves heard, and calls on the prime minister to continue to discharge his duties, oversee institutions, and adhere to the constitution.

In April, it was reported that Kais Saeid was planning just such a 'soft coup', but it was denied at the time.

In May, Middle East Eye said it had obtained a secret document outlining a planned coup.

All has not been well in Tunisia's democracy. Meddling by counter-revolutionary forces, such as the United Arab Emirates, has always sought to roll back many of the precious gains of the Tunisian Arab Spring revolution. 

A flatlining economy, a Covid-19 epidemic, and a bitter dispute over the building of further institutions to safeguard democracy blocked by the current, populist president behind Sunday night's move has led to a steady creep of authoritarianism into the heart of the country's governance.

Following Kais Saied's dramatic assault on democracy tonight, Ennahda-aligned parliament speaker Rached Ghannoushi said: "We consider the institutions to be still standing and supporters of Ennahda and the Tunisian people will defend the revolution" as Ennahda met to discuss further steps.

Seizing on Tunisian protests over the government's handling of the Covid-19 crisis in the country, the country's president appeared to make a dramatic power grab on Sunday night, suspending parliament and reportedly detaining the prime minister whose whereabouts are currently unknown.

The Ennahda movement to which the PM is close and has the biggest number of seats in parliament immediately decried the move as an unconstitutional coup.

Sunday night's crisis marks the most serious challenge to the North African country's fledgling democracy since the 2011 'Jasmin Revolution' toppled its long-time dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.