From the New York Times, I'm Michael Bavaro. This is a Daily.

Ten years after the Arab Spring, Tunisia is the only remaining democracy to have emerged from the uprisings.

But now, the country's president has taken a series of actions that may imperil that democracy.

Today, my colleague Vivian Yee traveled to Tunisia to speak to its citizens and its president.

It's Wednesday, August 4.

Vivian, where did this story start for you?

So, I woke up in Cairo, where I'm based last Monday morning to the news that there had been huge countrywide protests across Tunisia.

Demonstrations turned violent as protesters expressed anger at the deterioration of the country's health, economic and social situation.

These protests had led to the president, Cairo said, basically taking the reins of power for himself.

We are seeing political turmoil in Tunisia.

Tunisia's president today suspended parliament indefinitely. It comes one day after he unilaterally fired the prime minister.

He had fired the prime minister. He had suspended parliament.

Today, I have taken responsibility. Those who claimed that this matter is related to a coup need to revise your constitutional lesson.

And it basically seemed like he had concentrated all the levers of government in his own hands.

And Vivian, why was all of that so significant to you?

Well, for a lot of people, it seemed like the last Embers of the Arab Spring had been snuffed out.

Explain that.

Tunisia was supposed to be the success story from the Arab Spring, which was this series of popular uprisings against dictators and authoritarian rule 10 years ago that swept across the Arab world.

And it had actually all begun in Tunisia when a young fruit seller set himself on fire in this rural town in Tunisia to protest police harassment.

And from there, it spread to countries across the Middle East, Egypt, Syria, Libya, Yemen.

And all of those countries have, you could say, failed in what protesters were hoping for back in 2011.

Either they succumbed to counter revolution or they fell into civil war.

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