TUNIS — Thousands of Tunisians marched down Habib Bourguiba Avenue on Saturday to mark five years since President Kais Saied suspended parliament and began ruling by decree, in one of the largest opposition demonstrations the capital has seen in months.

The march, organized by Nafas, an umbrella initiative bringing together opposition parties and independent figures, set out from Republic Square and moved toward the Municipal Theatre. Demonstrators revived the slogan of the 2011 revolution — "the people want the fall of the regime" — and chanted for "freedom, work and national dignity," according to reports from Al Jazeera and Africanews.

Many carried signs demanding the release of jailed opposition figures and banners rejecting what the president calls the "July 25 path," the political program he launched when he declared a state of exception on July 25, 2021, suspended the elected parliament and later dissolved it.

Five years of one-man rule

Since 2021, Mr. Saied has rewritten the constitution, dismissed dozens of judges and overseen the arrest of prominent opposition leaders, steps that rights groups say have dismantled the democratic institutions built after the 2011 revolution. A decree criminalizing the spread of information the government deems false has been used against journalists and critics, according to press freedom organizations.

The president and his supporters reject that characterization. Mr. Saied has repeatedly said his measures were necessary to end years of political paralysis and corruption, and that they correct the course of the revolution rather than betray it.

A tense anniversary

Saturday's protest unfolded against a backdrop of economic strain, with negotiations with the International Monetary Fund stalled and living costs a central grievance for many demonstrators.

With presidential power now largely unchecked and the opposition fragmented but increasingly vocal, the fifth anniversary of July 25 has sharpened the question that has hung over Tunisia since 2021: whether the country's political standoff can be resolved at the ballot box.