ali786
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I thought id create this thread so people can know the story of how the protests started in Tunisia - and as we know this was the catalyst for the other protests.
this isn't a thread about the current situation about the middle eastern wide protests but rather how and why it started. I think learning about it will be a great inspiration to others and give a good insight into the world of the oppressed.
BBC News - Tunisia suicide protester Mohammed Bouazizi dies
Tunisia suicide protester Mohammed Bouazizi dies
Mohammed Bouazizi (R) was visited by the president before his death
A Tunisian graduate whose attempted suicide set off violent protests over unemployment across the North Africa nation has died.
Mohammed Bouazizi, 26, sold fruit and vegetables illegally in Sidi Bouzid because he could not find a job.
Last month he doused himself in petrol and set himself alight when police confiscated his produce because he did not have the necessary permit.
Public protests are rare in Tunisia and dissent is usually repressed.
But recent economic discontent has provoked the most violent unrest in more than a decade.
Mr Bouazizi died on Tuesday afternoon in a hospital outside the capital, Tunis.
Police presence
A crowd estimated at around 5,000 took part on Wednesday in his funeral procession to a cemetery near Sidi Bouzid, union official Kamel Laabidi said.
He told AFP news agency that the marchers chanted: "Farewell, Mohammed, we will avenge you. We weep for you today, we will make those who caused your death weep."
A massive police presence prevented the crowd from reaching the governor's office, outside which Mr Bouazizi had set himself alight, his uncle, Mehdi Horchani, told AFP.
"Mohammed gave his life to draw attention to his condition and that of his brothers," Mr Horchani, said.
President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who has ruled Tunisia for 23 years, condemned the riots, in which at least one demonstrator died when the security forces opened fire.
Officials say the officers retaliated in the central town of Menzel Bouzaiene after coming under attack with Molotov cocktails thrown by the crowd.
The government said the demonstrations, which then spread to the capital, were exploited by the opposition.
But the president, who visited Mr Bouazizi in hospital before his death, said that he would seek to find a solution to the problem of unemployment - and has since appointed a new youth minister.
Mohamed Bouazizi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bouazizi lived in a modest stucco home, a twenty-minute walk from the center of Sidi Bouzid,[12][13] a rural town in Tunisia burdened by corruption[14] and suffering an unemployment rate estimated at 30%.[5] According to his mother, he applied to join the army, but was refused, and several subsequent job applications also resulted in rejection.[11] He supported his mother, uncle, and younger siblings, including paying for one of his sisters to attend university, by earning approximately US$140 per month[11][7] selling his produce on the street in Sidi Bouzid. He was also working toward the goal of buying a work van, according to his sister Samia.[14]
Regardless, Bouazizi's family claims he was publicly humiliated when a 45-year-old female municipal official, Faida Hamdi,[5][6][11] slapped him in the face, spat at him, confiscated his electronic weighing scales, and tossed aside his fruit and vegetable cart.[16] It was also stated that she made a slur against his deceased father.[13][16] Her gender made his humiliation worse due to mores in the Arab world.[6][16][19] Bouazizi's mother claimed Hamdi's aides also beat and swore at her son. Countering these claims, in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, a brother of Hamdi claimed neither his sister nor her aides slapped or otherwise mistreated Bouazizi. He said they only confiscated Bouazizi's wares. However, an eye witness told Asharq Al-Awsat that he did not see Hamdi slap Bouazizi, but that her aides did beat him.[20]
Bouazizi, angered by the confrontation,[21] went to the governor's office to complain.[16] Following the governor's refusal to see or listen to him,[16] even after Bouazizi was quoted as saying "'If you don't see me, I'll burn myself'", he acquired a can of gasoline (or two bottles of paint thinner) and, at 11:30 a.m. local time (less than an hour after the altercation),[16][22] he doused himself in front of a local government building and set himself alight.[22]
may allah grant jannat to him
this isn't a thread about the current situation about the middle eastern wide protests but rather how and why it started. I think learning about it will be a great inspiration to others and give a good insight into the world of the oppressed.
BBC News - Tunisia suicide protester Mohammed Bouazizi dies
Tunisia suicide protester Mohammed Bouazizi dies
Mohammed Bouazizi (R) was visited by the president before his death
A Tunisian graduate whose attempted suicide set off violent protests over unemployment across the North Africa nation has died.
Mohammed Bouazizi, 26, sold fruit and vegetables illegally in Sidi Bouzid because he could not find a job.
Last month he doused himself in petrol and set himself alight when police confiscated his produce because he did not have the necessary permit.
Public protests are rare in Tunisia and dissent is usually repressed.
But recent economic discontent has provoked the most violent unrest in more than a decade.
Mr Bouazizi died on Tuesday afternoon in a hospital outside the capital, Tunis.
Police presence
A crowd estimated at around 5,000 took part on Wednesday in his funeral procession to a cemetery near Sidi Bouzid, union official Kamel Laabidi said.
He told AFP news agency that the marchers chanted: "Farewell, Mohammed, we will avenge you. We weep for you today, we will make those who caused your death weep."
A massive police presence prevented the crowd from reaching the governor's office, outside which Mr Bouazizi had set himself alight, his uncle, Mehdi Horchani, told AFP.
"Mohammed gave his life to draw attention to his condition and that of his brothers," Mr Horchani, said.
President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who has ruled Tunisia for 23 years, condemned the riots, in which at least one demonstrator died when the security forces opened fire.
Officials say the officers retaliated in the central town of Menzel Bouzaiene after coming under attack with Molotov cocktails thrown by the crowd.
The government said the demonstrations, which then spread to the capital, were exploited by the opposition.
But the president, who visited Mr Bouazizi in hospital before his death, said that he would seek to find a solution to the problem of unemployment - and has since appointed a new youth minister.
Mohamed Bouazizi - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bouazizi lived in a modest stucco home, a twenty-minute walk from the center of Sidi Bouzid,[12][13] a rural town in Tunisia burdened by corruption[14] and suffering an unemployment rate estimated at 30%.[5] According to his mother, he applied to join the army, but was refused, and several subsequent job applications also resulted in rejection.[11] He supported his mother, uncle, and younger siblings, including paying for one of his sisters to attend university, by earning approximately US$140 per month[11][7] selling his produce on the street in Sidi Bouzid. He was also working toward the goal of buying a work van, according to his sister Samia.[14]
Regardless, Bouazizi's family claims he was publicly humiliated when a 45-year-old female municipal official, Faida Hamdi,[5][6][11] slapped him in the face, spat at him, confiscated his electronic weighing scales, and tossed aside his fruit and vegetable cart.[16] It was also stated that she made a slur against his deceased father.[13][16] Her gender made his humiliation worse due to mores in the Arab world.[6][16][19] Bouazizi's mother claimed Hamdi's aides also beat and swore at her son. Countering these claims, in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, a brother of Hamdi claimed neither his sister nor her aides slapped or otherwise mistreated Bouazizi. He said they only confiscated Bouazizi's wares. However, an eye witness told Asharq Al-Awsat that he did not see Hamdi slap Bouazizi, but that her aides did beat him.[20]
Bouazizi, angered by the confrontation,[21] went to the governor's office to complain.[16] Following the governor's refusal to see or listen to him,[16] even after Bouazizi was quoted as saying "'If you don't see me, I'll burn myself'", he acquired a can of gasoline (or two bottles of paint thinner) and, at 11:30 a.m. local time (less than an hour after the altercation),[16][22] he doused himself in front of a local government building and set himself alight.[22]
may allah grant jannat to him
