(Kasserine, Tunisia) – The earth around Kasserine is deep red, contrasting with the lush green vegetation further north. The terrain in the centre of the country becomes noticeably tougher and sparser, giving way to prickly pear cacti and olive trees.
The town of Kasserine lies near the Algerian border, in the shadow of Jebel ech Chambi, Tunisia’s highest peak. It was the blood that was spilt here over a weekend in January that transformed what had been a regional uprising into a genuinely nationwide movement.
It was the massacring of protesters in the centre of the country pushed the middle classes of Tunis into the streets.
The bloodshed lasted from January 8-12. Under pressure from protesters and the military, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced to call an end to the shooting of protesters.
“Enough firing of real bullets,” he said in his final speech on January 13. “I refuse to see new victims fall.”
Emboldened, the first mass protest on Avenue Habib Bourguiba took place in the capital the very next day.
Ben Ali’s speech had come too late to save his presidency, and the mood on the streets was unforgiving.
Breaking the threshold of fear
The protests began on December 17 in the town of Sidi Bouzid, about 75km to the east of Kasserine, after a young street seller named Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire.
By late December, the protests had spread to other towns in what is one of the poorest regions of the country, including Thala, Regueb, Menzel Bouzaiane and Kasserine.
“Mohamed Bouazizi broke the wall of fear. But the real centre of this revolution is Kasserine, and the neighbourhood of Ezzouhour by excellence,” Moez Bannani, a teacher at a local high school, said.
These protests became more regular and increased in size after students returned to school on January 3.
The fighting between protests and security forces intensified in Kasserine on January 7, after a local man set himself on fire, echoing Bouazizi’s act.
Local police had done little to disperse the protests. Then large numbers of anti-riot police known as the BOP (Brigades de l’Ordre Public) were brought in from other towns.
These units beat protesters and used teargas and rubber bullets against them.
Responding to the attacks, youths threw stones at police. Some hurled Molotov cocktails, but protests were mostly peaceful. There were no cases of demonstrators using firearms against security forces.
Then came a number of unidentified agents wearing different, slicker uniforms from either the BOP or the local police.
They used live bullets for the first time on January 8.
Amongst the first victims were Mohamed Mbarki, 17, and Slah Dachraoui, 19 More