Holly Pickett for The New York Times
Chaos spread in the Tunisian capital on Friday as protesters clashed with government forces.
By David D. Kirkpatrick
This article was published in The New York Times on 14/01/2011
TUNIS — President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia has left the country amid growing chaos in the streets, French diplomats say, and the prime minister went on state television Friday night to say he is temporarily in charge.
A French Foreign Ministry official said authorities did not know where the president had gone, and representatives of the president were not immediately available to confirm the report.
There were also unconfirmed reports that the country’s airspace had been closed.
In his speech to the country, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi said that “as the president of the republic is unable to exercise his functions for the time being, I have assumed, starting now, the powers of the president.”
“I call on all sons and daughters of Tunisia,” the prime minister said, “to show the spirit of patriotism and unity in order to enable our country, which is dear to all of us, to overcome this difficult phase and restore its security and stability.”
The apparent fall of Mr. Ben Ali, whose authoritarian government ruled for more than two decades, would mark the first time that widespread demonstrations had overthrown an Arab leader.
The country, which is determinedly secular, is a close United States ally in the fight against terrorism.
The prime minister’s announcement followed an extraordinary and fast-moving back-and-forth between the government and the protesters, who became increasingly emboldened over the last month of demonstrations. After the president tried to placate the protesters Thursday with promises of more freedom, including a right to demonstrate, tens of thousands rushed into the streets of downtown Tunis Friday to take advantage of his pledge by calling for his ouster
But when the protesters led a funeral procession for a recently killed protester through the streets, the police moved to disperse the crowds, brutally beating demonstrators and raining tear gas on the crowds who had gathered in front of the Interior Ministry. It is unclear if any demonstrators were shot Friday.
Mr. Ben Ali then announced that he had dismissed the Cabinet and would hold early legislative elections, but news agencies said the government also declared a state of emergency forbidding new demonstrations and warning that those who disobeyed would be shot. There were reports of gunfire downtown in the capital early Friday night, The Associated Press reported.
The reports that the president had left surfaced soon after that, as did the announcement by the prime minister. Mr. Ghannouchi did not say if he would re-instate the Cabinet.
The Obama administration was still trying to confirm that Mr. Ben Ali had left the country, National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon said at a White House press briefing Friday afternoon. He also noted the need for stability as the country undergoes “the process of much-needed political reform.”
Tunisia is far different from most of its neighboring Arab countries. There is little Islamist fervor in the country. It has a large middle class, and under Mr. Ben Ali, it has invested heavily in education. Not only are women not required to cover their heads, they enjoy a spectrum of civil rights, including free contraception, that is well beyond that in most countries in the region.
The educational investment has been a mixed blessing for the government, however, producing a generation of college educated young people who face bleak job prospects in Tunisia’s corruption-clogged economy.
The anti-government protests began a month ago when a college-educated street vendor burned himself to death in protest of his dismal prospects.
But the mounting protests quickly evolved from demands for more jobs to demands for political reforms, focusing mainly on the perceived corruption of the government and the self-enrichment of the ruling family. The protests were accelerated by the heavy use of social-media web sites like Facebook and Twitter by young people, who used the Internet to call for demonstrations and to circulate videos of each successive clash.
Some demonstrators also cited the evidence of cables from the United States Embassy in Tunisia that were released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks providing vividly detailed accounts of the first family’s self-enrichment and opulent lifestyle.
On Friday morning, the crowd that gathered in the streets of Tunis was celebrating its confidence that change was at hand. “Victory, victory, until the government falls,” protesters chanted.
“Bouazizi you are a hero,” they shouted, referring to the vendor who died. “The people of Tunisia have won.”
Tunisia has not seen demonstrations like this since President Ben Ali came to power 23 years ago in a bloodless coup. Tunisians have been accustomed to living under a police state that countered unauthorized public gatherings with arrests and possible torture. Dozens have died over the last week as security forces — including snipers, witnesses say — fired on protesters.
The crowd on Friday was notably middle-class, including young doctors and lawyers and other professionals. Some identified themselves as the “Bourguiba generation” — young people who benefited from free higher education and other social welfare policies first instituted under Tunisia’s first post-independence president, Habib Bourguiba.
Some demonstrators said they hoped that other Arab countries would follow their example despite the many differences between their country and many of those nations, where popular discontent is often expressed in the language of Islam.
Zied Mhirsi, a 33-year-old doctor carried a sign that said, in English, “Yes We Can,” a reference to President Barack Obama, above “#sidibouzid,” the name of an online Twitter feed that has provided a forum for rallying protesters. On the other side his sign said, “Thank you Al-Jazeera,” in reference to the Arab news network’s month of extensive coverage.
For the first time in the month of protests, the demonstration on Friday also included large numbers of women — almost none wearing veils — and many snapping cellphone pictures of the crowd to post on the Internet.
At least one American has been injured in the violence. Stephen Chmelewski, a 50-year-old English teacher who lives in the Lafayette neighborhood of downtown Tunis, said he saw police “corralling” residents into certain streets and protesters setting debris fires, so he went out to take pictures of the events.
He said he saw police snipers firing down on the crowds from rooftops, and one evidently struck him with a bullet that passed through his left leg and lodged in his right one. “I had protesters behind me and the police in front,” he said, “and then all of a sudden I got hit from behind by a bullet.”
He was let out of the Charles Nicole hospital Thursday night, he said, because more wounded were flooding in with gunshot wounds from riots around Tunis. “All the emergency room beds were filled up,” he said.
The French government and the United States Department of State cautioned against all non-essential travel to the North African country.
In his speech to the country, Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi said that “as the president of the republic is unable to exercise his functions for the time being, I have assumed, starting now, the powers of the president.”
“I call on all sons and daughters of Tunisia,” the prime minister said, “to show the spirit of patriotism and unity in order to enable our country, which is dear to all of us, to overcome this difficult phase and restore its security and stability.”
The apparent fall of Mr. Ben Ali, whose authoritarian government ruled for more than two decades, would mark the first time that widespread demonstrations had overthrown an Arab leader.
The country, which is determinedly secular, is a close United States ally in the fight against terrorism.
The prime minister’s announcement followed an extraordinary and fast-moving back-and-forth between the government and the protesters, who became increasingly emboldened over the last month of demonstrations. After the president tried to placate the protesters Thursday with promises of more freedom, including a right to demonstrate, tens of thousands rushed into the streets of downtown Tunis Friday to take advantage of his pledge by calling for his ouster
But when the protesters led a funeral procession for a recently killed protester through the streets, the police moved to disperse the crowds, brutally beating demonstrators and raining tear gas on the crowds who had gathered in front of the Interior Ministry. It is unclear if any demonstrators were shot Friday.
Mr. Ben Ali then announced that he had dismissed the Cabinet and would hold early legislative elections, but news agencies said the government also declared a state of emergency forbidding new demonstrations and warning that those who disobeyed would be shot. There were reports of gunfire downtown in the capital early Friday night, The Associated Press reported.
The reports that the president had left surfaced soon after that, as did the announcement by the prime minister. Mr. Ghannouchi did not say if he would re-instate the Cabinet.
The Obama administration was still trying to confirm that Mr. Ben Ali had left the country, National Security Advisor Thomas Donilon said at a White House press briefing Friday afternoon. He also noted the need for stability as the country undergoes “the process of much-needed political reform.”
Tunisia is far different from most of its neighboring Arab countries. There is little Islamist fervor in the country. It has a large middle class, and under Mr. Ben Ali, it has invested heavily in education. Not only are women not required to cover their heads, they enjoy a spectrum of civil rights, including free contraception, that is well beyond that in most countries in the region.
The educational investment has been a mixed blessing for the government, however, producing a generation of college educated young people who face bleak job prospects in Tunisia’s corruption-clogged economy.
The anti-government protests began a month ago when a college-educated street vendor burned himself to death in protest of his dismal prospects.
But the mounting protests quickly evolved from demands for more jobs to demands for political reforms, focusing mainly on the perceived corruption of the government and the self-enrichment of the ruling family. The protests were accelerated by the heavy use of social-media web sites like Facebook and Twitter by young people, who used the Internet to call for demonstrations and to circulate videos of each successive clash.
Some demonstrators also cited the evidence of cables from the United States Embassy in Tunisia that were released by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks providing vividly detailed accounts of the first family’s self-enrichment and opulent lifestyle.
On Friday morning, the crowd that gathered in the streets of Tunis was celebrating its confidence that change was at hand. “Victory, victory, until the government falls,” protesters chanted.
“Bouazizi you are a hero,” they shouted, referring to the vendor who died. “The people of Tunisia have won.”
Tunisia has not seen demonstrations like this since President Ben Ali came to power 23 years ago in a bloodless coup. Tunisians have been accustomed to living under a police state that countered unauthorized public gatherings with arrests and possible torture. Dozens have died over the last week as security forces — including snipers, witnesses say — fired on protesters.
Protesters gathered with signs reading phrases like “Ben Ali Get Out” in Tunis, Friday.
Protesters held up their hands as if they were handcuffed, at a rally in front of the interior ministry in Tunis on Friday.
The crowd on Friday was notably middle-class, including young doctors and lawyers and other professionals. Some identified themselves as the “Bourguiba generation” — young people who benefited from free higher education and other social welfare policies first instituted under Tunisia’s first post-independence president, Habib Bourguiba.
Some demonstrators said they hoped that other Arab countries would follow their example despite the many differences between their country and many of those nations, where popular discontent is often expressed in the language of Islam.
Zied Mhirsi, a 33-year-old doctor carried a sign that said, in English, “Yes We Can,” a reference to President Barack Obama, above “#sidibouzid,” the name of an online Twitter feed that has provided a forum for rallying protesters. On the other side his sign said, “Thank you Al-Jazeera,” in reference to the Arab news network’s month of extensive coverage.
For the first time in the month of protests, the demonstration on Friday also included large numbers of women — almost none wearing veils — and many snapping cellphone pictures of the crowd to post on the Internet.
At least one American has been injured in the violence. Stephen Chmelewski, a 50-year-old English teacher who lives in the Lafayette neighborhood of downtown Tunis, said he saw police “corralling” residents into certain streets and protesters setting debris fires, so he went out to take pictures of the events.
He said he saw police snipers firing down on the crowds from rooftops, and one evidently struck him with a bullet that passed through his left leg and lodged in his right one. “I had protesters behind me and the police in front,” he said, “and then all of a sudden I got hit from behind by a bullet.”
He was let out of the Charles Nicole hospital Thursday night, he said, because more wounded were flooding in with gunshot wounds from riots around Tunis. “All the emergency room beds were filled up,” he said.
The French government and the United States Department of State cautioned against all non-essential travel to the North African country.
No comments:
Post a Comment