A new hawker set himself on fire Saturday, January 8, Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia. Aged 50, Moncef Ben K., a married father, was doused with petrol while the market was held in the city. He was taken by ambulance and his condition is considered serious. At the same location in Sidi Bouzid, agricultural capital in the heart of Tunisia, a seller of fruits and vegetables, Mohamed Bouazizi, 26, was slain by fire on December 17 before dying on January 4.His gesture of despair caused a wave of protests and demonstrations since unprecedented twenty years throughout the country. Since mid-December, several other cases of suicides were reported. Saturday, the city of Metlaoui in the mining region of Gafsa, burying a young man who had also set himself on fire.
At a public rally held Saturday in Tunis, the General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) single trade union, has supported claims "legitimate" events in Sidi Bouzid and elsewhere. "We support the demands of the people of Sidi Bouzid and inland regions, UGTT can only be with the movement behind those in need and seeking jobs," said Abid Brigui, Secretary General Deputy UGTT, addressing the crowd from the offices of the Central Square on Mohamed Ali.
"It is against nature to condemn this movement, it is not normal to respond with bullets," he said to applause in calling for "dialogue with young people." Two people were shot dead during clashes with police since mid-December. Three other people were injured by firearms in new clashes with police in Regueb and Saida, near Sidi Bouzid, Friday.
In Tunis, a few hundred people strictly monitored by hundreds of plainclothes police and anti-riot units, observed a minute of silence to "martyrs" of social movement. Isabelle Mandraud
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