Thousands of members and supporters of Tunisia’s influential labour body, the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), rallied in the capital on Thursday, August 21, 2025, denouncing what they described as an erosion of union rights and civil freedoms.
The demonstration, one of the country’s largest in recent months, highlighted growing friction between the UGTT and President Kais Saied. The standoff has intensified as Tunisia grapples with a worsening economic crisis.
Last month, a nationwide strike organized by the UGTT over wages and working conditions paralyzed transport services and increased pressure on Saied to respond to public discontent. In turn, hundreds of the president’s supporters gathered outside the union’s headquarters earlier this month, urging him to suspend the organisation.
Thursday’s protest began at the UGTT headquarters in Tunis before moving through Habib Bourguiba Avenue—a historic site where mass rallies helped topple President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 and ignited the Arab Spring uprisings across the region.
Chanting “The right to struggle is a duty,” demonstrators condemned rising poverty and hunger while demanding stronger protections for workers.
UGTT Secretary-General Noureddine Taboubi denounced what he described as “threats and smear campaigns” targeting the union. He also urged authorities to free political prisoners and ensure impartial trials.
“The union will not deviate from the path of struggle and will adhere to its social and national role to guarantee workers’ rights,” Taboubi declared in his address.
Authorities did not issue an immediate response to the protest.
Since assuming sweeping powers in 2021, President Saied has dissolved parliament, ruled by decree, suspended the Supreme Judicial Council, and dismissed dozens of judges—moves the opposition has widely condemned as a coup.
