On the way back from the Kasbah of Tunis, the Avenue Bourguiba is largely cordoned off by police and security forces — on account of a demonstration of around a hundred people on the steps of the Théâtre Municipal, the very building that in 2011 served as the focal point and launching pad for protests on a far larger scale.

On closer inspection, the demonstration turns out to be politically more charged than its modest size might suggest. The banners carry the same formula, repeated: أطلقوا سراح — "Free" — followed by the names of activists from the Flottille Soumoud, a Tunisian initiative aimed at breaking the Gaza blockade. Its members had been arrested in early March on charges of money laundering — the real reason being that they had been preparing a second humanitarian flotilla to Gaza and collecting donations to fund it. The placards also carry the slogan إسناد الحق الفلسطيني ليس جريمة — "Supporting the Palestinian cause is not a crime" — a direct riposte to the logic of Tunisia's new authoritarian regime, which officially proclaims solidarity with Palestine while simultaneously arresting those who attempt to act on it. A hundred people, Palestinian flags, a police deployment that brings the Avenue to a standstill: déjà vu with reversed signs.

In 2011, this was the street where a regime fell. Today, it is where the new regime puts its control on display.