Join on WhatsApp
Join on Telegram
TUNIS, July 29, 2013 (AFP)
Main developments in Tunisia since the ouster in 2011 of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali after 23 years in power, sparking the Arab Spring revolts.
–2011–
– January 14: Confronted with a massive popular movement, which started in December in the town of Sidi Bouzid, Ben Ali steps down and flees with his family. He finds refuge in Saudi Arabia. A state of emergency is declared.
– March 1: Moderate Islamist movement Ennahda legalised.
– September 6: The government announces a strict application of the state of emergency. Violence rocks the country.
– October 23: Ennahda wins 89 of the 217 seats in a new constituent assembly after Tunisia’s first free election.
– December 12: Former opposition leader Moncef Marzouki, a fierce rival of Ben Ali, elected president and sworn in the following day.
–2012–
– March 26: Ennahda renounces the inclusion of sharia Islamic law in the future constitution.
– June 11-12: One man dies and around 100 people injured in unrest triggered by an art exhibition that includes works deemed offensive to Islam. The government blames Salafists and old regime loyalists.
– September 14: Four people killed and dozens injured in clashes at the US embassy in Tunis, where protests over an anti-Islam film degenerate into violence.
– October 5: Police fire rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters in Sidi Bouzid.
– November 27-December 1: Some 300 injured in clashes in the town of Siliana.
– December 17: Protesters hurl rocks at Marzouki and parliamentary speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar in Sidi Bouzid, on the second anniversary of the revolution.
–2013–
– January 13: Soldiers deployed near the border with Libya after a week of clashes between police and residents.
– February 6: Prominent opposition leader Chokri Belaid shot dead, sparking deadly protests and provoking a political crisis which leads the government to resign and a new cabinet led by Ali Larayedh.
– May 19: Clashes erupt between radical Islamists and police after Salafist movement Ansar al-Sharia.
– July 8: State of emergency is extended by three months in a bid to contain radical Islamist militants.
– July 25: Opposition figure and MP Mohamed Brahmi shot dead outside his home near Tunis. His family blames Ennahda, which denies the charge.
– July 29: Larayedh says the government will stay in office and calls a general election for December 17, as protests demand his administration’s ouster.
