http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110111/ap_on_hi_te/af_tunisia_riots_4
And why did it start?
Over lack of a permit to sell fruits and vegetables to earn some money to take care of his own kids.
Micro management over how you can earn some money doesn't go over to well in times of a depression.
In the cruise ship brochures, Tunisia is a land of endless sandy beaches, warm Mediterranean waters, ancient ruins and welcoming bazaars.
But behind the postcard-perfect facade, legions of jobless youths who see no future are seething under the iron-fisted leadership of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and worried fathers wonder how they will feed their families. Their despair over Tunisia's soaring unemployment and rising food prices has fueled more than three weeks of deadly riots, posing the most significant challenge yet to the 74-year-old leader who grabbed power 23 years ago in a bloodless coup.
The unrest began after Mohamed Bouazizi, a 26-year-old with a university degree, set himself on fire when police in the central town of Sidi Bouzid confiscated the fruits and vegetables he was selling without a permit. He later died in a hospital near Tunis, and his desperate act touched a nerve with educated, unemployed youths nationwide.
Unemployment in Tunisia is officially around 14 percent but is much higher in rural areas and among youths.
The death even sparked several copycat suicides — in the latest, an unemployed 23-year-old climbed an electric pylon Tuesday near Bouazizi's hometown and electrocuted himself, union official Mohamed Fadhel told the AP.
The unrest has hopscotched to towns around the country, concentrated in, but not limited to, regions less visible to the waves of European tourists who flock to Tunisia's beaches. Public buildings, schools, cars and even police stations have been attacked.
Ben Ali, whose portrait hangs in public offices across the country, has labeled the rioting "terrorist acts" controlled from abroad. On Monday, he ordered all high schools and universities, seen as hotbeds of activism, to shut down indefinitely.
