Okay, petros, but how did it start? Who started it - was it a social media thing or what?
The fuel: Rising food prices, extreme poverty, food insecurity combined with a connected internet savvy youth who are educated and unemployed, because of corruption and nepotism.
The spark:
December 17: Mohammed Bouazizi, an 26-year-old man trying to support his family by selling fruits and vegetables in the central town of Sidi Bouzid, douses himself in paint thinner and sets himself on fire in front of a local municipal office.
Police had confiscated his produce cart because he lacked a permit and beat him up when he resisted. Local officials then refused his hear his complaint. He is taken to a hospital near Tunis for treatment of his third-degree burns.
Bouazizi's act of desperation highlights the public's boiling frustration over living standards, police violence, rampant unemployment, and a lack of human rights. The protests begin in
Sidi Bouzid that same day. They quickly spread across the region, then the country.
Tunisian Time line:
Timeline: Tunisia's civil unrest - Tunisia - Al Jazeera English
Egypt:
A people's uprising against empire - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
BTW, Al Jazeera covers the action live.
AJE - Al Jazeera English