Man set himself ablaze protesting against police assault
A man is said to have set himself on fire on Friday evening protesting against police assault on him
The man who is from Tunisian perpetrated the crime on Habib Bourguiba Avenue, in the Lafayette area of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia.
He is now being treated in hospital with second-degree burns, reports the New Arab.
Reports say the man approached a security officer, according to a statement from the Tunisian Interior Ministry.
A second officer intervened to protect his colleague and shot the man, the ministry reported, adding the targeted security officer sustained burns and was taken to the hospital for treatment.
“The incident also injured a bystander near the scene.
“He was hospitalised and is now in stable condition,” read the statement.
Habib Bourguiba Avenue has become symbolic after protesters gathered there during the revolution.
The ministry has confirmed the identity of the deceased, noting he had a history of psychological disorders, though no further details were provided.
The 35-year-old man poured a flammable substance over himself and lit himself on fire on Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis.
This latest self-immolation comes just three months after a Tunisian professional footballer Nizar Issaoui, 35, set himself alight in protest against what he said was the police state ruling the country.
Issaoui was accused of terror charges after he was unable to buy bananas for less than ten dinars a kilogram, roughly $3.
According to The NewsZenith, it recalled that similar incidents occurred in 2013 when a young cigarette vendor set himself on fire in Tunis.
Reports say the incident revived memories of similar events two years earlier, that sparked an uprising which spread across the Arab world, tagged “Arab Spring”.
“This is the youth selling cigarettes, this is unemployment,” yelled 27-year-old Adel Khadhri, before setting himself alight on the steps of the municipal theatre in the centre of the city.
Doctors said Mr Khadri was in a “critical” condition, but that he was likely to survive.
Earlier in December 2010, a vegetable vendor, Mohammed Bouazizi had set himself ablaze in protest against his arrest by a policewoman, who seized his vegetable cart on a major street.
Bouazizi’s protest sparked the “Arab Spring” that swept across the Arab countries causing regime change in major Arab countries.
The 2010 incident started the popular protests that topped President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011. (Agencies reports)
