Violent Government Oppression Leads to Self-Immolation in Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Mauritia, and Algeria

--L.A.Times.com--

--HyperVocal.com--

--theStar.com--

--aljazeera.net--

Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old, set himself on fire in the provincial town of Sidi Bouzid. The man had been selling fruits and vegetables from a stand without a license when state police stopped him and confiscated his produce.

Commentators argue Bouazizi's act sparked the inital rounds of rioting in Tunisia. Within a week, protests had spread the 125 miles to the capital of Tunis and soon after President Ben Ali, who had ruled the country for 23 years, was forced out of power.

Bouazizi’s self-immolation does not stand alone Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Mauritania all saw similar acts of martyrdom. Two Saudi Arabian men committed the same acts, one a 60 year old actually died.

Abdou Abdel-Monaam Hamadah, a 48-year-old owner of a small restaurant from Qantara, an area close to the Suez Canal city of Ismailia east of Cairo, set himself on fire outside the parliament building Monday to protest the government’s policy preventing restaurant owners from buying cheap subsidized bread to resell to their patrons. According to the Associated Press, “He escaped with only light burns on his neck, face and legs after policemen guarding the building and motorists driving by at the time used fire extinguishers to quickly put out the blaze engulfing him.”