Tunisia's parliamentary speaker has been denied access into parliament after the president suspended the house.

Rached Ghannouchi has staged a sit-in outside parliament's gate as soldiers manned it and declined to open.

President Kais Saied was on Sunday evening accused of staging a coup.

This was after he announced he was taking over and sacked the prime minister.

Protesters had been calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi.

The public is angry over the government's handling of a massive recent spike in Covid cases.

This has added to a general unrest over the nation's economic and social turmoil.