Tunisian authorities ban meetings at opposition Ennahda party offices

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisian authorities on Tuesday banned meetings at all offices of the opposition Ennahda Islamist party and police closed the headquarters of the Salvation Front main opposition coalition, party and official sources said.

Ennahda fears the move will pave the way for banning the party and comes a day after police detained Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi, the most prominent critic of President Kais Saied‮ ‬and three senior officials, the party said.

Hours after Ghannouchi's arrest, police raided the party headquarters early on Tuesday and evacuated all those present to start a search that will take days, party officials said.

A Reuters reporter said that police also prevented access to the headquarters of the Salvation Front party in the capital, where a press conference was scheduled to be held on Tuesday.

The Salvation Front is the main opposition coalition that includes Ennahda, small parties and activists. It regularly organises protests against Saied and accuses him of a coup. Most of its leaders are in prison on suspicion of conspiracy.

Sources said that there was a decision to ban meetings at Ennahda headquarters throughout the country.

For decades, Ennahda was banned, and most of its leaders, including Ghannouchi, were in exile. After a 2011 revolution that brought democracy, the party became a major player and took part in successive governments.

‮"‬It seems to be an attempt to ban the Ennahda and hit opposition‮"‬, Riadh Chaibi the senior official in Ennahda told Reuters.

Police have this year detained leading political figures who accuse Saied of a coup for his moves to close the elected parliament in 2021 and move to rule by decree before rewriting the constitution.

An interior ministry official said Ghannouchi had been brought in for questioning and his house searched on the orders of the public prosecutor investigating "inciting statements".

Ghannouchi said in an opposition meeting on Saturday, "Tunisia without Ennahda, without political Islam, without the left, or any other component, is a project for civil war."

(Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by Andrew Heavens)