Sidi Bouzid

“Sidi Bouzid, a town of 40 thousand, doesn’t get so much as a mention on the Tunisian guide books. Tourists don’t come here. On Friday morning, December 17, 26 years old
Mohammed Bouazizi was selling fruits from a cart as he did every day to support his family. He didn’t have a license, but very few of these vendors did. A municipal ofﬁcial, a woman,
came by and conﬁscated his scale right here. It was worthy a 100 bucks and Mohamed Bouazizi knew he would have to pay a bribe to get it back. It had happened to him many times
before, but this time he got mad, he complained and the woman [pause] slapped him. One slap in the face, and that’s how the revolution began.” 6

Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia – Mohamed Bouazizi spent his whole life on a dusty, narrow street here, in a tiny, three-room house with a concrete patio where his mother hung the laundry and the
red chilis to dry. By the time Mr. Bouazizi was 26, his work as a fruit vendor had earned him just enough money to feed his mother, uncle and ﬁve brothers and sisters at home. He was
10 years old when he became the main provider for his family, selling fresh produce in the local market. He stayed in high school long enough to sit his baccalaureate exam, but did not
graduate. (He never attended university, contrary to what many news organisations have reported). Mohamed Bouazizi dreamed about owning a van.” 17

“He applied to join the army, but was refused, as were other successive job applications. With his family dependant on him, there were few options other than to continue going to the market.”
18 “The country’s ofﬁcial unemployment rate is 14 percent, concentrated among young people, but the rate is much higher in Sidi Bouzid, say local union leaders, who put it at higher than 30
percent. Neglected by successive central governments, bereft of factories, seized with corruption and rife with nepotism, Sidi Bouzid and the small towns surrounding it are ﬁlled with idle
young men, jobless, underemployed or just plain poor.
Faida Hamdy, a 45-year-old municipal inspector in Sidi Bouzid, a police ofﬁcer’s daughter, was single, had a “strong personality” and an unblemished record, her supervisor said. She
inspected buildings, investigated noise complaints and ﬁned vendors like Mr. Bouazizi, whose itinerant trade may or may not have been legal; no one seems to know.” 19

" Everyone was watching "
Faida Hamdy, a 45-year-old municipal inspector in Sidi Bouzid, a police officer’s daughter, was single, had a “strong personality” and an unblemished record, her supervisor said.
She inspected buildings, investigated noise complaints and fined vendors like Mr. Bouazizi, whose itinerant trade may or may not have been legal; no one seems to know.” 19

“Yet when Mohamed Bouazizi poured inﬂammable liquid over his body and set himself alight outside the local municipal ofﬁce, his act of protest cemented a revolt that would ultimately
end President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s 23-year-rule.” 30 “Bilal Zaydi, 20, saw the vendor’s relatives and friends outside the governor’s ofﬁce that afternoon, throwing coins at the gate.
“Here is your bribe,” they yelled. Over the next day and half the protests grew and the police “started beating protesters, and ﬁring gas,” he said. Mr. Zaydi, a high school student, slept
during the day, and then he and his friends would take on the police at night.” 31

“The uprising that followed came quick and fast. From Sidi Bouzid it spread to Kasserine, Thala, Menzel Bouzaiene. Tunisians of every age, class and profession joined the
revolution.” 32 “Students, teachers, the unemployed and lawyers joined forces in Sidi Bouzid and neighbouring towns, braving torture and arrest.” 33

“It took Ben Ali nearly two weeks to visit Mohamed Bouazizi’s bedside at the hospital in Ben Arous. For many observers, the ofﬁcial photo of the president looking down on the
bandaged young man had a different symbolism from what Ben Ali had probably intended.” 34

On the 17th of December 2010, around 11am I received instructions to get to that spot because of some illegal selling was going on there. When we arrived, we noticed a group of them [street vendors].
Some of them ran away when they saw us. But he [Mohamed Bouazizi] didn’t. He had been warned earlier that week. I told him that we would confiscate his goods if he didn’t respect the law;
I let him go on Thursday of that week, but when I saw him on Friday, I tried to talk to him. But he started yelling. It was an unexpected reaction.

“On the morning of Dec. 17, as Bouazizi pulled his cart along the narrow, rutted stone road toward the market,” 20 “other vendors say Ms. Hamdy” 21
“confronted him on the way to the market. She” 22 “tried to confiscate Mr. Bouazizi’s fruit,” 23 “but he refused to hand them over.
They swore at each other, the policewoman slapped him” 24 “in the face in front of about 50 witnesses” 25 “and, with the help of her colleagues, forced him to the ground.” 26

“Before dawn on Friday, Dec. 17, as Bouazizi pulled his cart along the narrow, rutted stone road toward the market, two police ofﬁcers blocked his path and tried to take his fruit.
Bouazizi’s uncle rushed to help his 26-year-old nephew, persuading the ofﬁcers to let the rugged-looking young man complete his one-mile trek. The uncle visited the chief of police
and asked him for help. The chief called in a policewoman who had stopped Bouazizi, Fedya Hamdi, and told her to let the boy work. Hamdi, outraged by the appeal to her boss,
returned to the market. She took a basket of Bouazizi’s apples and put it in her car. Then she started loading a second basket. This time, according to Alladin Badri, who worked the next
cart over, Bouazizi tried to block the ofﬁcer.
“She pushed Mohammed and hit him with her baton,” Badri said. Hamdi reached for Bouazizi’s scale, and again he tried to stop her. Hamdi and two other ofﬁcers pushed Bouazizi to
the ground and grabbed the scale. Then she slapped Bouazizi in the face in front of about 50 witnesses.” 58

“That morning, it became physical. A policewoman confronted him on the way to market. She returned to take his scales from him, but Bouazizi refused to hand them over. They swore at
each other, the policewoman slapped him and, with the help of her colleagues, forced him to the ground. The ofﬁcers took away his produce and his scale. Publically humiliated,
Bouazizi tried to seek recourse. He went to the local municipality building and demanded to a meeting with an ofﬁcial.” 59

I was about to cry, after all I’m just a woman. I was so scared. He took the box violently, and he put it back on the cart. We decided, me and my colleague, to go for an other one [box].
But my co-worker told me not to take it and suggested that we should take his balance instead. Since I was closer to the car I took it, but he [Mr. Bouazizi] yanked it from me, injuring my hand.
I screamed, and I backed off to ask for back up. He headed to the Governor’s Office and we followed him. We stayed there waiting for back up, at the opposite side of the street.

That was when a man came towards us and asked me if I had slapped him. He was not alone at that time. I told him that I would never do such a thing.
That man turned out to be his [Bouazizi] uncle and I only learnt that some time later, when I was arrested. That same Friday night I was sent to the police station.
I read that version of the story in a newspaper on sunday morning. I saw the photo of his uncle on that newspaper. Anyway, back to the story.

Many more would pay with their lives, before Ben Ali ﬁnally resigned and ﬂed into exile in Saudi Arabia in mid-January, allegedly with more than a tonne of gold from the Tunisian
Central Bank. Ms. Hamdi has since been released from jail and has been completely exonerated. While acknowledging there was indeed an argument between her and the young man
she vehemently denies hitting him.
After four months in jail, the 46-year-old municipal inspector said she was only trying to move him along from trading in front of the municipal buildings, in contravention of local bylaws. Ms. Hamdi admits the incident sent Mr. Bouazizi into a rage, but she has no idea why he then set himself on ﬁre, or if he even intended to die in the act.
There is no doubt the subsequent popular uprisings in towns across the country were, in part, promulgated and promoted via social networking sites by driven, savvy young people. But,
again, our Mohamed Bouazizi was not the linked-in, internet whizz, you may have read about, who wrote online about his intentions and frustrations.
As it happens it was another college student, with the same name, who posted his poetry and revolutionary song lyrics on the web. It was arguably these posts and the way they spread
like wildﬁre in Tunisia and beyond – which the regime could do nothing to stop – that helped fuel the uprising.” 85