Thousands of Tunisians belonging to the powerful UGTT labor union rallied in the capital, Tunis, on Saturday against President Kais Saied's policies.

They were marching after weeks of arrests targeting prominent opponents of Saied.

It is the biggest crackdown since the president's power grab in 2021 when he sacked the prime minister, suspended parliament and pushed through a constitution that consolidated his power.

UGTT chief Noureddine Taboubi accused the president of targeting the powerful union as part of a broader crackdown against critics.

He called on the president to embrace "dialogue" and "democratic" ways and slammed Saied for pursuing what he called a "violent discourse... that is dividing the country."

The union members were also unhappy about the state of the Tunisian economy.

UGTT's biggest protest yet against Saied

A senior union official was detained last month for organizing a strike by highway tollbooth operators.

The UGTT's newspaper said the arrest signaled that Saied had declared war on the organization and its million members.

This week, authorities barred foreign labor union leaders from entering Tunisia to take part in the rally as a show of solidarity with the UGTT.

"We will continue to defend freedoms and rights, whatever the cost. We do not fear prisons or arrests," UGTT leader Noureddine Taboubi told the demonstrators.

Saturday's was one of the biggest protests yet against Saied.

Migrants flown home from Tunisia after attacks

The UGTT chief also defended "the rights of migrants, regardless of their nationality or the color of their skin".

It comes as 280 Malians and Ivorians left Tunisia on Saturday on repatriation flights, fearful of a wave of violence since a controversial tirade against migrants by the president.

In February, Saied ordered officials to take "urgent measures" to tackle irregular migration, claiming without evidence that "a criminal plot" was underway "to change Tunisia's demographic makeup."

Saied charged that migrants were behind most crime in the North African country, fueling a spate of sackings, evictions and physical attacks.

But the UCTT condemned the president's utterances, "Tunisia is a country of tolerance, no to racism," Taboubi told the protesters.

The UGTT shared a Nobel Peace Prize in 2015 with three other civil society groups for promoting national dialogue in the country of about 12 million inhabitants.

lo/msh (AFP, dpa, Reuters)