The mother of Mohamed Bouazizi, the fruitseller whose self-immolation sparked the revolution that ousted a dictator and ignited the Arab Spring, Manoubia (L), attends on November 22, 2011 the opening of the first session of the constituent elected assembly in Tunis. A young jobless man, Brahim Slimani, 23, set himself ablaze and was seriously wounded on Sunday in front of the town hall of Sidi Bouzid.
IN SUMMARY
Mohamed Bouazizi's death ignited a mass uprising that toppled ex-dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali the following month and touched off the Arab Spring.
SIDI BOUZID
A young jobless man set himself ablaze and was
seriously wounded on Sunday in front of the town hall of Sidi Bouzid,
birthplace of Tunisia's 2011 revolution, witnesses said.
Brahim Slimani, 23, doused himself with petrol and
set himself alight in front of the closed town hall, to the alarm of
passers-by who rushed to his rescue.
He was taken to the local hospital where doctors said he had third degree burns over three-quarters of his body.
Witnesses said the man did not utter a word before his action but a friend told AFP that he was unemployed and living in poverty.
The number of people committing suicide or trying
to take their own lives has multiplied since a young Tunisian street
vendor set himself on fire on December 17, 2010, in a drastic act of
protest against police harassment.
Mohamed Bouazizi's death ignited a mass uprising
that toppled ex-dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali the following month and
touched off the Arab Spring.
Limited economic prospects, especially in the
neglected interior, were key factors behind Tunisia's revolution. Two
years on, nearly a quarter of the population lives in poverty, with
unemployment at around 18 percent.
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