‘Mood of despair’ as self-immolations spread across N. Africa

Al Jazeera and Agencies
Last Modified: 05 Jan 2011 20:56 GMT A 26-year-old Tunisian man who set off a wave of protests after attempting to commit suicide by setting himself on fire last month has died of third-degree burns in hospital, his relatives and human rights groups have said. Mohamed Bouazizi died at 5:30 pm local time on Tuesday at a hospital in the town of Ben Arous, his brother Salem Bouazizi told the AFP news agency. Bouazizi is the fourth person confirmed to have died in a wave of social unrest that entered its 20th day on Wednesday. A funeral was held for the young man on Wednesday in his home town of Sidi Bouzid, Tunisian blogger Lina Ben Mhenni told Al Jazeera. Bouazizi doused himself in petrol and set himself alight on December 17 in front of a government building in the town in central Tunisia, after police allegedly confiscated his fruit and vegetable stand because he lacked a permit and then abused him. Bouazizi was an unemployed college graduate who turned to selling produce to make ends meet. His suicide attempt highlighted the rampant problem of unemployment in a nation often portrayed as a tourist haven and economic success.

Within a week after Bouazizi’s act, protests had spread and two more protesters had died: 22-year-old Houcine Falhi committed suicide by electrocuting himself at a protest, while Mohamed Ammari, 18, was shot to death by police. Chawki Belhoussine El Hadri, 44, was shot by police on December 24 and died of his wounds six days later. Recently, lawyers and students have continued to lead demonstrations against the government throughout the country. About 250 people who marched in the town of Thala on Monday were met by police, firing tear gas to contain them. The crowd responded by setting fire to tyres and attacking offices of the ruling party. Police stormed an organised at the Human and Social Sciences Department of the University 9 avril in Tunis, using batons and teargas against the students who had gathered on Wednesday, Ben Mhenni said. Information from Tunisia has been scarce as the government has moved to censor Internet access.

Tunisian protester dies of burns

Man set himself on fire in protest over lack of job and housing, in one of four attempted public suicides in a week.
Last Modified: 17 Jan 2011 01:19 GMT A man has died after setting himself on fire at a government building in Algeria, state media has reported, echoing the self-immolation that triggered the protests that toppled the leader of neighbouring Tunisia. The daily El Khabar reported on Sunday that Mohsen Bouterfif had died of his burns after setting himself on fire on Thursday in front of the town hall in Boukhadra, east of Tebessa. The paper reported that it happened after a meeting with the mayor who was unable to provide Bouterfif with a job and a house. About 100 young men protested over Mohsen’s death in the town, in Tebessa province, 700 km east of Algiers. The governor of the province sacked the mayor, El Khabar said. It was the one of four attempted public suicides in Algeria this past week in apparent copycat replays of last month’s self-immolation of a 26-year-old graduate in Tunisia which triggered a popular revolt that led to the ouster of that country’s autocratic ruler, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. On Sunday, police intervened to put out the flames as a 34-year-old man, also jobless, tried to set himself on fire outside the headquarters of the domestic intelligence agency for the department of Mostaganem, some 355km east of Algiers, the APS news agency said. In yet another case, a 27-year-old man torched himself on Friday in front of a police station in Jijel, outside of Algiers, according to the daily El Watan, although the reasons for his action were unclear. The victim, Said. H, appeared at the police station with his chest and upper body in flames, but police rapidly put out the fire with an extinguisher, it said. The man, who suffered second-degree burns, was admitted to a hospital.

Algerian dies from self-immolation

17 January 2011 (BBC) – A man has set himself on fire outside the parliament building in the Egyptian capital, Cairo. He shouted anti-government slogans before pouring fuel on his clothes and setting himself alight, witnesses said. Policemen nearby managed to put out the flames, and the man is now in a stable condition in hospital, officials said. The action echoes that of a 26-year-old Tunisian whose self-immolation sparked a wave of protest in the country that brought down the government. Also on Monday, a Mauritanian man said to be unhappy with the government there was taken to hospital after setting himself on fire. … Many in Egypt have voiced the same grievances as the Tunisians. There are deep economic problems in Egypt and the prices of some basic food items, such as tomatoes, are notoriously high, our correspondent says. An Egyptian Facebook group has called for street protests on 25 January, which the organisers are calling a “day of revolution against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment”. But despite popular support for the Tunisian demonstrations, there have so far been no similar large-scale protests in Egypt, says our correspondent. The overwhelming mood of the country is despair and hopelessness – not anger – and after decades of repression, many Egyptians do not believe that they can change things through protests, he adds.

Man sets himself on fire in Cairo protest

Reporting by Laurent Prieur; Writing by Richard Valdmanis; editing by Louise Ireland
Mon Jan 17, 2011 NOUAKCHOTT Jan 17 (Reuters) – A Mauritanian man set himself on fire in front of the West African state’s presidential palace on Monday, police officials said, in an echo of the suicide that triggered an uprising in Tunisia. The man, described as a 40-year-old entrepreneur from a wealthy family, was protesting alleged government mistreatment of his tribe, police sources told Reuters, asking not to be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly. Witnesses said he doused himself in gasoline while sitting in his locked car and set himself on fire before security forces and passers-by broke the car windows to remove him. He was rushed to hospital.

Mauritanian sets self on fire near palace – police