Tunisia Coup Day

Coup dayTunisians remember perfectly well how on Saturday, November 7, 1987, at 6:30 hours, the radio suddenly interrupted the concert of the popular Lebanese singer Fairuz and reported that the 84-year-old head of state for life Habib Bourguiba was removed from his post, which the “father of the nation” had held since the proclamation of the republic in 1957.

The operation to remove Bourguiba was carried out without a single shot by a group of prominent statesmen led by Prime Minister Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali. In a slightly agitated voice, he read out his address to the nation, informing his compatriots that the decision was made in accordance with Article 57 of the Constitution and on the basis of a medical report on the state of health of the elderly president.

Thus ended the era of Habib Bourguiba, who used to say that a man like him would not be easy to replace. And the Ben Ali era began...