{"id":26980,"date":"2018-12-26T10:23:23","date_gmt":"2018-12-26T10:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=26980"},"modified":"2018-12-26T10:23:23","modified_gmt":"2018-12-26T10:23:23","slug":"tunisia-protests-after-journalist-sets-himself-on-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=26980","title":{"rendered":"Tunisia: Protests after journalist sets himself on fire"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Protests erupted in Tunisia<\/a> after the death of a journalist who set himself on fire to protest against economic hardship in the North African nation, prompting clashes with police.<\/p>\n

Abderrazak Zorgui, a 32-year-old journalist, posted a video online before his self-immolation in the city of Kasserine, describing his desperation for a revolution over poor living condition and corruption.<\/p>\n

He expressed his frustration at unemployment and the unfulfilled promises of Tunisia’s 2011 Arab Spring revolution.<\/p>\n

Authorities said Zorgui died of his injuries on Monday soon after being taken to hospital.<\/p>\n

His action triggered a protest on Monday night in Kasserine that degenerated into violence, with police firing tear gas to disperse crowds blocking the main street, setting tyres ablaze and throwing stones at police.<\/p>\n

Interior ministry spokesperson Sofiane Zaag said on Tuesday that six police officers were injured and several people arrested in the protest.<\/p>\n

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\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Abderrazak Zorgui left a final message before he set himself on fire [Screengrab\/Youtube]<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

A new protest was held on Tuesday night in Kasserine, with new tensions with police, and other actions were reported elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Authorities also deployed reinforcement on the main streets of Kasserine, 270km from the capital, Tunis.<\/p>\n

“For the sons of Kasserine who have no means of subsistence, today I start a revolution. I am going to set myself on fire,” Zorgui said in the video published before his death.<\/p>\n

In late 2010, a similar self-immolation by Mohamed Bouazizi<\/a>, a street vendor lamenting unemployment, corruption and repression, led to nationwide protests fueled by social media that brought down Tunisia’s long-time authoritarian President\u00a0Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.<\/p>\n

That ushered in democracy for Tunisia and unleashed similar movements around the Arab world.<\/p>\n

Zorgui’s funeral was held on Tuesday in Kasserine, which has come to symbolise Tunisia’s economic problems and social tensions.<\/p>\n

\n
\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\nPolice firing tear gas to disperse protesters who blocked the main street, set tyres ablaze and threw stones at police<\/span>\u00a0[Amine Ben Aziza\/<\/span>Reuters]<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

‘Lack of hope’<\/h2>\n

Unemployment and poverty are high, and the area has struggled for years against armed groups in the nearby mountains who are linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL<\/a>, also known as ISIS).<\/p>\n

The Tunisian National Journalists’ Union called for demonstrations and a possible strike in response to the journalist’s death. In a statement, it accused the state of contributing to Zorgui’s death by not cracking down on corruption. The union said he died protesting “difficult social conditions\u2026and lack of hope,”<\/p>\n

Tunisian reporters expressed solidarity with Zorgui, lamenting precarious conditions for freelancers with no legal protections and low pay amid Tunisia’s struggling economy.<\/p>\n

“The reasons for this young man’s suicide are poverty and marginalisation, as well as the fragile situation of most journalists,” said Latifa Labiadh of radio station Amal.<\/p>\n

Despite the country’s democratic transition after Ben Ali’s removal and a recent return to economic growth, authorities are still struggling to improve poor living conditions.<\/p>\n

Inflation fueled by the devaluation of the Tunisian dinar and persistent unemployment sparked protest across the country last January.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n SOURCE:
\n Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Protests erupted in Tunisia after the death of a journalist who set himself on fire to protest against economic hardship in the North African nation, prompting clashes with police. Abderrazak Zorgui, a 32-year-old journalist, posted a video online before his self-immolation in the city of Kasserine, describing his desperation for a revolution over poor living…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":26981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26980","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}