A young Tunisian, who set himself on fire, is seen at the main Tunis street, Tuesday. The man set himself on fire in a gesture recalling the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, whose death ignited a revolt in Tunisia that echoed across the Arab World. — Reuters TUNIS — An unemployed young man set himself on fire in the center of Tunis Tuesday in a gesture recalling the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, whose death ignited a revolt in Tunisia that echoed across the Arab World. Cigarette vendor Adel Khadri suffered severe burns after immolating himself in an act of desperation hours before lawmakers were to vote on a new government to pull Tunisia out of political crisis. Khadri, 27, hails from an extremely poor family in Jendouba in northwestern Tunisia. He arrived in the capital a few months ago to look for work. “This is a young man who sells cigarettes because of unemployment,” witnesses quoted Khadri shouting before he set himself on fire on the steps of the municipal theater on Habib Bourguiba Avenue — epicenter of the 2011 uprising that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Passers-by rushed to douse the flames but not before Khadri had suffered serious burn wounds. He was still conscious when he was rushed to the Ben Arous Hospital by emergency services. Officials said Khadri, who eked out a living peddling cigarettes in the streets of Tunis, was a broken man. “He is not in danger but he has third-degree burns to the head and the back,” emergency services spokesman Mongi Khadhi said. “He was demoralized. His father died four years ago. He has three brothers and the family is very poor.” Interior Ministry spokesman Khaled Tarrouche too attributed Khadri's desperate action to poverty. “He is unemployed and came to Tunis a few months ago. He was very fragile, psychologically broken, and that is why he set himself on fire.” Tunisia's unemployment rate stands at about 17 percent, with graduates forming a large proportion of the jobless total. Several Tunisians have set themselves ablaze in the past two years in protests emulating that of Bouazizi, a street vendor who torched himself on Dec. 17, 2010 in the town of Sidi Bouzid after a policewoman confiscated his fruit cart. Bouazizi's death sparked protests that ended with Ben Ali's ouster and inspired rebellions elsewhere in the Middle East. — Agencies
