Hommam Al Nassim 
A young man died after setting himself on fire following a dispute with security forces in the governorate of Kairouan in central Tunisia, his family confirmed yesterday, Friday.
Mansour Salami stated that his 22-year-old son, Yassin, set himself on fire last Tuesday after intervening to resolve a dispute near a police station in the Bouhajla agricultural area.
Salami explained that the police threatened to arrest his son, saying: ‘The police decided to arrest my son when he tried to intervene, and as a result, he protested by bringing gasoline and pouring it on himself and setting himself on fire.’
Salami added that the authorities informed him last Thursday morning of his son’s death in the hospital due to severe burns in the capital, Tunis, noting that he would protest to demand justice.
This incident recalls what the street vendor Mohamed Bouazizi (26 years old) did when he set himself on fire on December 17, 2010, leading to his death and subsequently sparking the Tunisian revolution, which ended with the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
A street vendor in early April last year set herself on fire in the governorate of Sfax after a confrontation with the police who wanted to confiscate her goods, resulting in severe burns.
In July 2023, a Tunisian youth attempted suicide by setting himself on fire and suffered serious burns, and in April of the same year, Tunisian football player Nizar Issaoui committed suicide in the same manner in protest against police treatment.
Suicide cases are common in the interior regions due to poverty and unemployment, especially in the governorate of Kairouan, which recorded 26 suicide cases out of 147 in Tunisia in 2023.
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