Tunisian man dies by fire after police row
A Tunisian man died protesting against the police after setting himself on fire in Kairouan, Tunisia’s religious capital, according to AFP.
Yassine Selmi, died in a hospital in Tunis after self immolating in front of a police station on 11th April, said his father, Mansour Selmi.
The 22 year old construction worker was threatened with arrest after attempting to “resolve a fight between two people and police officers near a police station,” Yassine’s father said.
Later that day, Yassine returned to the police station with a container of gasoline and “set himself on fire in protest” of the threats made by the police, Mr Selmi added.
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Mr Selmi declared that he would continue to seek justice for his son’s death.
Although Kairouan is one of the oldest places of worship in the Islamic world, it is unfortunately the region with the highest rankings of suicides, unemployment, and illiteracy.
Of Tunisia’s documented 147 suicides in 2023, 26 cases were recorded in Kairouan, according to FTDES, a non-government group.
Mr Selmi’s incident follows just days after a street vendor in Sfax self immolated after a dispute with the police. The young woman, who was originally from Kairouan, was taken to hospital with severe burns.
Since 2010, Tunisia has seen a rise in self immolation cases due to the events of the Arab Spring as the redundancy of President Zine El Abdine Ben Ali and the pro-democracy protests were ignited by the self immolation and death of street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi.
After being “accused of terrorism…for a complaint about bananas,” by police, Tunisian footballer Nizar Issaoui took to social media to announce his “death by fire” as a protest to Tunisia’s police state, The Guardian reported in April 2023.
Issaoui’s death prompted protests on the streets of Haffouz where young demonstrators threw stones at the police, who then retaliated with teargas.
Tunisia’s economic crisis has contributed to national tensions, the ruining Ramadan traditions and celebrations, an ongoing lack of food security, a migration crisis and poverty, despite the hand outs and financial deals from the EU.
AFP/The Guardian/Al Jazeera
