Graduate who sparked wave of protests dies from wounds
Wednesday 05 January 2011
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EmailA Tunisian man whose attempted suicide by setting himself on fire sparked a wave of protests across the country over the 25 per cent graduate unemployment rate died on Tuesday of his injuries.
Mohammed Bouazizi, 26, could not find work after finishing university and began selling fruit and vegetables to make ends meet.
He set fire to himself last month in front of a government building in Sidi Bouzid after police seized his fruit and veg cart.
The incident sparked weeks of street rallies by jobless graduates, trade unionists and leftwingers. The protests later spread to other towns, including the capital Tunis.
Riot police used force to quell the unrest, killing two civilians when they fired on a demonstration in Bouziane and injuring scores of protesters in other flashpoints across the country.
The protests have died down since President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali named a new youth minister and ordered the government to invest 6.5 billion dinars (£2.9bn) to cut graduate unemployment.
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