2011 Tunisian revolution

Tunisian Revolution الثورة التونسية
Part of the Arab Spring
Protesters with a sign that says "Ben Ali, get lost" in French.
Date	18 December 2010 – 14 January 2011 (3 weeks and 6 days)
Location	Tunisia
Caused by	Government corruption Social inequalities Unemployment Political repression
Methods	Civil resistance Demonstrations General strikes Self-immolations Spontaneous uprisings
Resulted in	Overthrow of the Ben Ali government Resignation of Prime Minister Ghannouchi Dissolution of the political police Dissolution of the RCD, the former ruling party of Tunisia and liquidation of its assets Release of political prisoners Elections to a Constituent Assembly on 23 October 2011 Subsequent protests against the interim Islamist-led constituent assembly. Government agrees to resign and engages in dialogue discussing the country's new transition.
Casualties
Death(s)	338
Injuries	2,147

Overthrow of the Ben Ali government

The Tunisian Revolution was an intensive campaign of civil resistance, including a series of street demonstrations taking place in Tunisia, and led to the ousting of longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. It eventually led to a thorough democratization of the country and to free and democratic elections.

The demonstrations were caused by high unemployment, food inflation, corruption, a lack of political freedoms like freedom of speech and poor living conditions. The protests constituted the most dramatic wave of social and political unrest in Tunisia in three decades and resulted in scores of deaths and injuries, most of which were the result of action by police and security forces against demonstrators. The protests were sparked by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi on 17 December 2010 and led to the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali 28 days later on 14 January 2011, when he officially resigned after fleeing to Saudi Arabia, ending 23 years in power. Labour unions were said to be an integral part of the protests. The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet was awarded the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize for "its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Tunisian Revolution of 2011". The protests inspired similar actions throughout the Arab world.

Following Ben Ali's departure from the country, a state of emergency was declared. The Constitutional Court affirmed Fouad Mebazaa as acting president under Article 57 of the Constitution. A caretaker coalition government was also created, including members of Ben Ali's party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally (CDR), in key ministries, while including other opposition figures in other ministries, with elections to take place within 60 days. However, five newly appointed non-CDR ministers resigned almost immediately, and daily street protests in Tunis and other towns around Tunisia continued, demanding that the new government have no CDR members and that the CDR itself be disbanded. On 27 January Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi reshuffled the government, removing all former CDR members other than himself. On 6 February the new interior minister suspended all party activities of the CDR, citing security reasons. The party was dissolved, as protesters had demanded, on 9 March 2011.