SIDI BOUZID, Tunisia (AFP) – A
young unemployed teenager
has killed himself in Sidi
Bouzid, the marginalised
town in central Tunisia
where the country's
revolution erupted two years
ago, witnesses said on
Tuesday.
Wissem Hani, 17, died on
Sunday from a massive
electric shock after clinging
to an electric pylon in protest
at his bleak circumstances,
the witnesses told an AFP
journalist.
The number of people
committing suicide or
attempting to take their own
lives has multiplied since a
young Tunisian street vendor
set himself on fire on
December 17, 2010, in a
drastic act of protest against
police harassment.
Mohamed Bouazizi's death
ignited a mass uprising that
toppled ex-dictator Zine El
Abidine Ben Ali the following
month and touched off the
Arab Spring.
Limited economic prospects,
especially in the neglected
interior, were key factors
behind Tunisia's revolution.
Two years on, nearly a
quarter of the population
lives in poverty, with
unemployment at around 18
percent.
Last week in Sidi Bouzid,
protesters angry at the
government's failure to
improve living standards
hurled rocks at President
Moncef Marzouki after a
speech he gave to mark the
anniversary of the uprising.
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