[ 2011-10-30 ]

Calm returns to cradle of Arab Spring
SIDI BOUZID, Tunisia (AFP) - Calm returned
Saturday to the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, the
birthplace of the Arab Spring, after an overnight
curfew imposed because of violent post-election
protests.

The unrest appeared to have been sparked by the
disqualification over campaign finance violations
of a party led by a former member of the regime
ousted in January by Tunisia's pro-democracy
revolution.

The riots had threatened to tarnish the country's
first free elections, which won praise from world
leaders keenly watching developments in a country
setting the pace for democratic uprisings across
the Arab world.

A police official said on Saturday there had been
no incidents during the night, the town's weekly
market was open, and residents were going about
normal activities as teams worked to clean and
repair public buildings that were vandalised
during two days of unrest.

"Why would anybody want to destroy a thousand
years of court archives?," Moez Hamdouni, a
42-year-old schoolmaster asked as he led a group
of volunteer cleaners, shouting orders through a
loudspeaker.

A few tanks remained stationed by the police
headquarters and town hall, however, and schools
remained closed.

"The material damage is huge, it looks like the
place was struck by a hurricane," said one of the
dozens of residents who walked out of their homes
armed with brooms, spades and wheelbarrows to
clean up the town.

Late Friday, Hechmi Haamadi, a businessman whose
Popular Petition won in Sidi Bouzid, appealed to
the town's residents to halt the protests, echoing
an appeal by the head of the Islamist Ennahda
party which won Sunday's polls.

Tension had remained high late Friday despite the
curfew, as disgruntled groups were threatening
further damage and the army boosted patrols in the
town, an AFP correspondent reported.

An interior ministry spokesman told AFP Saturday
that the curfew, which was in effect from 7:00 pm
Friday to 5:00 am (0400 GMT) on Saturday, would be
maintained as a precautionary measure.

"Calm in Sidi Bouzid has to be sustained and we
are maintaining this measure until further
notice," he said, adding that no injuries were
reported during the protests.

Several newspapers accused some players still
loyal to ousted dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali
of stoking unrest by tapping into popular
discontent in Sidi Bouzid, a particularly
impoverished town.

It was here that fruit seller Mohamed Bouazizi, an
unemployed university graduate, set himself on
fire on December 17 last year to protest abuses
under Ben Ali's 23-year-old regime.

He died days later, but Bouazizi's desperate act
sparked the popular revolt that toppled Ben Ali
less than a month later and ignited region-wide
uprisings that have since toppled long-standing
leaders in Cairo and Tripoli.

The October 23 election saw a massive turnout and
confirmed the dominance of pre-poll frontrunners
Ennahda despite efforts by secular parties to
counter the rise of the Islamist party, whose
office in Sidi Bouzid was targeted by some
rioters.

Results show that Ennahda took 90 of the 217 seats
in the constituent assembly, a body which is seen
as the custodian of the revolution and will be
tasked with forming an interim government and
writing a new constitution.

Analysts have said that Ennahda, even in a
majority alliance would be obliged to appease
coalition partners, a moderate-minded society, and
the international community on whose investment
and tourism the country relies heavily.

Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi on
Saturday congratulated the party on its victory.

"We congratulate Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of
Tunisia's Ennahda party, and wish success for the
Tunisian nation," Salehi said at a news conference
in Tehran, the official IRNA news agency
reported.

Salehi also hoped that Tehran and Tunis officials
would soon exchange visits, the report said.

© 2011 AFP

Source - AFP

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