Military vehicles surround the parliament.
The president uses emergency rights to increase his power.
The government and the opposition are talking about a coup.
And the population?
Greetings seemingly ecstatic.
That is Tunisia in July 2021. What's going on?
"Not much has changed since the 2011 revolution because the elites, the economic and political elites, could only cement their power," says Mirco Keilberth, who reports from Tunis as a freelancer for SPIEGEL.
"Before last Sunday, paralysis and shock dominated the pandemic situation, now there is a slight optimism - and uncertainty as to the extent to which President Saied will exploit these measures."
Similar concerns could be read in comments all over the world, official statements from the USA, the EU and some other countries called for compliance with democratic principles as a precautionary measure.
But that is Tunisia in July 2021: Most states did not want to condemn the radical step as a coup either.
As the only country in the so-called »Arabellion«, Tunisia has been able to preserve democratic structures to this day.
A seal of approval that almost guaranteed external financial support.
But the EU's permanent development aid has hardly reached the population so far, the promised reforms either failed to materialize or eventually petered out.
And now?
Was the President's coup just the first step back into a Tunisian dictatorship?
“The Europeans now play a key role,” says Mathieu von Rohr, head of the SPIEGEL foreign affairs department, “now they could put pressure on and make further aid conditional on Tunisia returning to democratic order.
Because it is important for Europe that Tunisia remains a stable country, especially with regard to the migration issue. "
How lasting the spontaneous euphoria of the population can be, why the people of Tunisia are placing their hopes in President Kais Saied and what dangers threaten the country's fragile democracy, you will hear in this episode of "Eight Billion".