anchor: these are the top stories. tunisia's prime minister says he is willing to hand over responsibility to whoever the president chooses to replace him. he was removed late on sunday after violent protests. the dismissal has triggeredthe country's worst political crisis since the arab spring revolution a decade ago. critics accused him of carrying out a coup. he has imposed a bump long night

curfew. died after a migrant boat capsized off libya. survivor say 20 women and two children were among those killed. a longtime ally of donald trump has pleaded not guilty to illegal lobbying. is charged with working as a foreign agent. he was let out on bail last week while he awaits trial. lebanon's parliament has chosen a billionaire. critics have accused him of cronyism and getting rich by questionable means. >> i think his excellency the

president. i would like to thank members of parliament. i wish to cooperate those who did and did not name me to find necessary solutions. it is vital to get the mp's confidence, but i want to get the trust of the people in every man and woman, because i do not have a magic wand. anchor: news continues after inside story. ♪ host: the birthplace of the arab spring is in crisis.

tunisia's president sacked the prime minister. the biggest political party is calling it a coup. his democracy at risk? this is inside story. ♪ hello there. when a president dismisses a prime minister and suspends parliament, that is a messy situation. some call it a coup. tunisia is facing its biggest political crisis since the arab spring 10 years ago. people were already angry at the government's handling of the pandemic. they have been protesting for weeks. events took a dramatic turn in the president dismiss the prime minister -- security forces

stormed al jazeera's euro and ordered journalists to leave. >> the decisions are not correct against the constitution in reality. they bring us back to 1954. host: the president called his decision necessary to save tunisia and its people. >> the first decision is to freeze all powers of the parliament. the constitution does not allow parliament to dissolve. the second is to lift immunity of all members of parliament.

i will take care over the public prosecution. host: the co-speaker said the president acted above the law. >> these decisions have no basis in the constitution nor the law. in short, it is a coup against the revolution, a coup against public and private liberties. the president made a misinterpretation the clashes with reality. host: thousands celebrated the news. >> it's the first time in my life, we have taken the country back. it is the first time we are on the streets to celebrate. host: you will hear tunisia referred to as a success story.

that success did not come easily and it is now arguably at risk. rewind to january of 2011. that is on protesters topples the longtime ruler. later that year, the country became sharply divided between secular opposition and a government that wanted islamic values. in response, a new constitution was agreed, two years later, 2014, which splits the power between the president and prime minister. a series of attacks undermined the towards him sector and even though the threat was contained, the economy never really care covered -- recovered. political outsiders were elected. parliament became increasingly fractured with party finding it difficult to form a government.

now analysts say a rivalry has developed between the big three, the president, prime minister and speaker. let's introduce today's panel, all of them in tunisia. a member of the tunisian parliament and an international spokesperson. a human rights activist, member of the executive bureau. the editor-in-chief of a newspaper. thank you all for your time today, has been a tumultuous day. let me come to my first guest. i'm not going to say this is a coup, that is not for me to say.

you tell me. >> i think the question is clear. it's a coup because, from the moment you don't respect the constitution, and you confiscate powers into one single person beholding legislative, executive and judiciary powers, contrary to the constitution, we can only use one word. is it an attempted coup? this is not a personal opinion. it is fact, which has been backed by all political forces. the situation, political crisis,

sanitary situation, the pandemic. it's really concerning, something which is new. we don't think the answer to that was to confiscate powers into one institution. it's not to send the army to the parliament. it's not to consider the judiciary power being ruled by the one and only president of the republic. despite the emergency of the situation, going backwards in terms of democracy and respecting institutions is not a solution. but we definitely need to find a clear path.

we are one of the forces backing the initiatives of the most important social organizations, with no condition. anything forbidden in the national dialogue. again, what is very concerning is the confiscation of the power cannot be a solution. host: i can't believe i'm saying this, let's consult the constitution. article 80. which says in the event of imminent danger, the president

may take any measures necessitated by the exceptional circumstances. after consultation with the head of government and the speaker and informing the president of the constitutional court. he got part of that right. situation that he needed to intervene. not only did he not consult with anyone, he fired them or froze them. >> that's right. the president said he had consulted both the prime minister and the speaker. we don't know where the prime minister is. you can call it a coup or whatever else, it's now

[indiscernible] the closing of parliament. it's true that the political situation, economic situation [indiscernible] there are many problems. governments have done almost nothing. it's true where there are many times where there are attacks on

the media. the solution will come through [indiscernible] i keep hope people will be wise enough in order to get things back. [indiscernible]

there is a risk of violence. host: we have a problem where something needs to be done. we have seen pictures celebrating the decisions on the street. the way he went about it is questionable at best. but maybe, and i'm playing devils advocate, he was acting in the interests of the country. >> that is a question for legal scholars. debates in tunisia. opponents of the concentration will make. i am here curious to understand

why it is the decision he made brought out such a celebration in the streets and why it he made the decision at this current moments, what the reactions will be. there was not only the health crisis, one of the worst death rates in the world. you also sell the prime minister , last week and was at a hotel resort. the anticorruption watchdog published this. his facebook account was restricted. at the same time we saw images of the prime minister playing tennis, thing people in hospitals. heads of clinics are crying about their inability to take care of their patients. we have seen hospitals overflowing. corpses piling up in the

hallways of hospitals. all of this did feed into massive anger. also on an economic level, we have seen the government raising prices, in talks to get a new loan. we have seen the price of goods increasing. people are suffering. they have been prevented from going out of their houses. quite a punishing response we have seen feeding into the anger. host: a lot of points. we have not got the time to go through all of those individually.

how do you respond to that? >> there is no point to deny we are facing a dangerous crisis. i thought weeks ago -- two thirds of the environmental team has been refused [indiscernible] very deep crisis of governments and economic crisis which have been aggravated by the pandemic. this is something we can't deny. there is no point to defend the

prime minister. we should actually do a constitutional coup. there is something in the middle, national dialogue, political dialogue, which should be done with wise people sitting around the table, and not through deploying the army. this is what is happening now. what we have is a confiscation of powers. i don't think this methodology is the right one. it is a way to again make this between the political stakeholders in tunisia.

what is urgent for us? the emergency now is to have democracy back. someone from the political class or elite, i do consider if we don't solve our problem, which could include actually new elections, at the parliament temporary, but also presidential labels. host: you talk about -- a democratic process. there can't be one at the moment if parliament is frozen. let's say the 30 days pass. then what? >> it depends on what the

president has in mind. [indiscernible] with the old political class. it is a problem everyone should be aware of. the fact that there is a harsh situation, social situation. after 10 years we are in an economic deadlock. [indiscernible] host: sorry to interrupt. quite often in these situations, people say we need fresh elections. that is not always the answer. with the way that politics and society seems to be so

splintered, that could end up solving nothing. >> it could worsen. we are -- [indiscernible] the political class came out of the blue and found themselves out of the front of politics. what has been done so far is far [indiscernible] at the same time, it's irresponsible. this dichotomy and division.

[indiscernible] we have democracy, certain steps to promote. we like to see the democracy. would like to make it work. [indiscernible] people are proud of the tunisia that was formed. now, the negation of all about -- all of that is really harming. what happened in 2011 [indiscernible]

and other regions expecting for things to be better. host: there was the revolution, the constitution. this is all only happened over 10 years. we have to remember it's a young democracy. there is plenty of work to do. what would you see as being the next step? >> these institutions are following a framework of a liberal democracy that in the words of one protesters is a 300-year-old institution, these are tools. but people who went to the streets i created something new, and were expected something new. not calling for a new constitution or new parliament.

when you look at the democratic legitimacy of parliament, they are elected, but you have to look at the current president. he received almost as many votes as all members of parliament in 2019, which also gives the letter of legitimacy. [indiscernible] if you ask people, is the parliament, are they responding to the needs of the people, are they debating and responding to whatever sector it is, whether it's an economically environment labor issues, agricultural issues, are they responding to the needs of the people? host: can you tell me quickly about the president?

people feel he can be awkward. he seems an interesting character for our young democracy. >> we were following the election campaign. some think were grappling with, trying to figure out who this outsider was. it was quite confusing. it may have been networks of former students he taught for many years. many of his students were very happy about his candidacy, had quite a lot of faith. people were fed up with traditional politicians. when you saw the runoff, that was between him and a businessman who has styled himself as an outsider. this is the kind of person who he appealed to, even without a strong media campaign or traditional election campaign.

host: the president has suspended different parts of power. would you welcome mediation? >> very quick comment on what i've just heard. people should not forget, all political parties have been fighting hard to win the second term of the election. it is one of the best representations of failure from political parties. the transformation of societies, needs as well.

what are the next steps? it's very easy. we demand the parliament reopen. i was denied access to the building by the army. this is something that is very dangerous. this is deftly not in the constitution. i would love to hear from people to talk about the role of the army today, what is the army doing inside the promontory building? this is the first thing. we are asking for a national dialogue. we think all of the social organizations in tunisia should play the role of facilitation. if there is a need for debate to

change, let's do it. if there is a need for debate to change the electoral system, let's do it. i think we should agree on the necessity of anticipated relationships. host: thank you so much for your time. there is more for you online. facebook.com, plenty of discussion there, as well as on twitter. thanks for joining us. see you again soon. úú■oñ

♪♪♪ lisa millar: for years, it's been an open secret. vincent doyle: as long as you have priests, you will have children of catholic priests. lisa: catholic priests who've broken their vow of celibacy to become fathers. michael patrick: i knew he was a priest when i was a child, but i couldn't tell them that i knew because i was a big secret. lisa: we talk to the children who've been pressured to stay quiet and suffered in silence. sarah thomas: this is just the tip of the iceberg, what we know at the moment. i think priests'hildren as a group want to be acknowledged. they want to be on the map. they exist. they're not collateral damage. lisa: some are speaking out for the very first time. linda lawless: and i can just remember rocking, going,