It included a series of street demonstrations which took place in Tunisia, and led to the ousting of longtime dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011.

'"[39] President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali had ruled Tunisia since 1987, mostly as a one-party state with the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD), following the overthrowing of his predecessor Habib Bourguiba.

As a result, the initial reactions to Ben Ali's abuses by the U.S. and France were muted, and most instances of socio-political protest in the country, when they occurred at all, rarely made major news headlines.

[43] As noted by Mohamed Bacha in his book, The Revolutionary Chants of Club Africain Ultras,[44][45] Tunisian youth had found an outlet to express their anger and dissatisfaction, through the fan chants of sports association Club Africain Ultras, such as: The capital is very angry, We are solidary when we make war to the sons of — Who oppress us, and Hey Regime, The Revolution is Imminent.

At the time of the revolution, Al Jazeera English reported that Tunisian activists are among the most outspoken in its part of the world, with various messages of support being posted on Twitter and Facebook for Bouazizi.

The riots went largely unnoticed, though social media sites disseminated images of police dispersing youths who attacked shop windows and damaged cars.

[54] Sociologist Asef Bayat, who visited Tunisia after the uprising and carried out field research, wrote about the mechanisation of large-scale capitalist farms in towns like Sidi Bouzid that have come "at the cost of smallholders' debt, dispossession, and proletarianization.

[61] Violence increased, and protests reached the capital, Tunis,[58] on 27 December where a thousand citizens expressed solidarity[62] with residents of Sidi Bouzid and called for jobs.

[71] On 12 January, a reporter from Italian broadcaster RAI stated that he and his cameraman were beaten with batons by police during a riot in Tunis's central district and that the officers then confiscated their camera.

[75] Also on 14 January, Lucas Dolega, a photojournalist for the European Pressphoto Agency, was hit in the forehead by a tear gas canister allegedly fired by the police at short range; he died two days later.

[87] Tunisian Pirate Party activists Slah Eddine Kchouk, Slim Amamou[88][89] (later appointed Secretary of State for Sport and Youth by the incoming government)[90][91] and Azyz Amamy were arrested but later released.

[68][92][93][94] Hamma Hammami, the leader of the banned Tunisian Workers' Communist Party and a prominent critic of Ben Ali, was arrested on 12 January,[73] and released two days later.

[108] INTERPOL confirmed that its National Central Bureau (NCB) in Tunis had issued a global alert to find and arrest Ben Ali and six of his relatives.

Al Jazeera's correspondent said there were apparently three different armed groups: the police (numbering 250,000), security forces from the Interior Ministry, and irregular militias supportive of Ben Ali who were vying for control.

[119] While commentators were divided about the extent to which the Internet contributed to the ousting of Ben Ali,[120][121][122] Facebook remained accessible to roughly 20% of the population throughout the crisis[122][123] whilst its passwords were hacked by a country-wide man-in-the-middle attack.

[126] In France, where a large Tunisian diaspora resides, displays of support were organized in several cities, including Paris[127] Toulouse,[128] Lyon,[129] Nantes, Marseille, Nice, Bordeaux,[130] and Strasbourg.

The cabinet included twelve members of the ruling RCD, the leaders of three opposition parties (Mustapha Ben Jafar from the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties [FTDL], Ahmed Brahim of the Ettajdid Movement, and Ahmed Najib Chebbi of the PDP),[132] three representatives from the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), and representatives of civil society (including prominent blogger Slim Amamou).

[143] Police began to join the protests in Tunis on 23 January over salaries, and to deflect blame over political deaths attributed to them during Ben Ali's rule.

The comments started a row between the two countries with the Tunisian Foreign Ministry saying it was ready to work with Italy and others but that it "categorically rejects any interference in its internal affairs or any infringement of its sovereignty."

In response, Italy's Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that both countries share a "common interest" to halt the immigration, while he also offered "logistical help in terms of police and equipment" and called to re-establish previously successful coastal patrols of Northern Africa.

"[184] Despite criticism about the "sparse" level of coverage and "little interest" given to the demonstrations by the international media, the protests were hailed by some commentators as "momentous events" in Tunisian history.

[189] Al Jazeera believed the ousting of the president meant the "glass ceiling of fear has been shattered forever in Tunisia and that the police state that Ben Ali created in 1987 when he came to power in a coup seems to be disintegrating".

[193] Larbi Sadiki suggested that although "conventional wisdom has it that 'terror' in the Arab world is monopolised by al-Qaeda in its various incarnations", there was also the fact that "regimes in countries like Tunisia and Algeria have been arming and training security apparatuses to fight Osama bin Laden [but] were [still] caught unawares by the 'bin Laden within': the terror of marginalisation for the millions of educated youth who make up a large portion of the region's population.

"[194] A similar opinion by Lamis Ardoni carried by Al Jazeera said that the protests had "brought down the walls of fear, erected by repression and marginalization, thus restoring the Arab peoples' faith in their ability to demand social justice and end tyranny."

He also pointed out that the "despot" Ben Ali sought refuge in the same place as the ousted Idi Amin of Uganda and that "the French and the Germans and the Brits, dare we mention this, always praised the dictator for being a 'friend' of civilized Europe, keeping a firm hand on all those Islamists."

'"[202] After the beginning of the uprising in Tunisia, a similar revolution in Egypt led to the removal of president Hosni Mubarak on 11 February, in turn triggering a wider series of protests across the Arab world.

In Syria, an uprising demanding the removal of President Bashar al-Assad also deteriorated into a civil war, and partly causing the current refugee crisis.

However, a financial analyst in Dubai suggested that "the spillover effect of the political turbulence to the large countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council is non-existent as there are no similar drivers.

[205] In August 2019, the United States aided Tunisia with $335 million that will be given in five years to support its democratic transition and help in funding projects and initiatives that would develop the country.

[206] The European Commission is refusing to release the results of a human rights inquiry in Tunisia, raising questions about transparency in relation to a migration deal, amid reports of mistreatment of migrants.