About 300 protesters have rallied in Tunis to mark the second anniversary of President Kais Saied’s adoption of sweeping powers and to demand the release of 20 detained opposition figures.

Saied dissolved the democratically elected parliament on July 25, 2021 and has since seized more powers, changing the country’s constitution in the process. His opponents decry his moves as a “coup”.

The opposition has kept up its protests against Saied despite the arrest in February of more than 20 opposition, media and business figures on charges of “conspiracy against state security”.

Rights groups have condemned a “witch-hunt” aimed at “repressing” freedom of opinion in the North African country, which had been the sole democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011.