Publication

On 17 December 2010, a 45 year old policewoman slapped an agitated vegetable vendor in his early-twenties who was creating a disturbance in a police station after his cart had been confiscated for lack of license. The vendor was a university graduate ensnared in Tunisia’s economic catastrophe and thus compelled to seek meager income as an unlicensed street vendor. Now, humiliated by having a female slap him on the face in public - he set himself aflame. The next day, many of his friends and relatives rioted in protest of the police’s heavy-handedness that led to the self-immolation. Police stood by and let the aggrieved vent their frustration.