Thousands gathered in the Tunisian capital on Saturday to protest against economic woes and the rule of President Kais Saied, amid a long-running political stand-off in the North African country.
The rally was organized in the centre of Tunis by the National Salvation Front, an opposition coalition including the Islamist Ennahda movement.
In an address at the rally, the front's head, Ahmed Chebbi, criticized Saied's policies and alleged that there were plans by the government to lift state subsidies and freeze wage rises to secure a loan from the International Monetary Fund, witnesses said.
"The state budget is plagued by bleeding. Our imports are far greater than our exports and we do not create jobs," Chebbi, a veteran politician, said.
Some protesters chanted: "Kais Saied has finished' or "Kais Saied out" and "Down with Saied."
In recent months, Tunisia has seen a series of demonstrations against Saied, who dissolved parliament in March, eight months after he decided to suspend it as part of a string of measures decried as a coup by the opposition.
In July, a controversial new constitution, granting Saied wide powers, was approved in a referendum.
Tunisia, long seen as the sole democratic success story of the 2010-11 Arab Spring, has been in political turmoil for more than a year.
In recent weeks, Tunisians have experienced a shortage of several staples and spiraling prices, which the government has blamed on fallout from the Ukraine war, as well as on black marketeers.
