Saied of Tunisia says it will change the anniversary of the revolution | Arab Spring News

The president has announced the anniversary of the start of the uprising, instead of removing former dictator Ben Ali from office.

Tunisian President Kais Saied has said he intends to move the official anniversary of the country’s revolution, a symbolic change that suggests the uprising is unfinished.

Tunisian uprising It exploded on December 17, 2010, when vegetable seller Mohamed Bouazizi was outraged by police harassment when Sidi Bouzid caught fire in a remote rural village.

Four weeks later, after widespread protests across the nation, veteran ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled into exile on January 14, which later became an official day of remembrance and a holiday.

But Saied told his cabinet on Thursday that he would order the holiday to be postponed to December 17, the day the “revolutionary explosion in Sidi Bouzide” erupted.

“Unfortunately the revolution was usurped,” he added. “They even stopped the people from expressing their wishes and slogans.”

He said plunder he took over the government and broad powers on July 25th. His movements seem to have become very popular, as thousands of his supporters took to the streets to celebrate the removal of the Prime Minister and the suspension of parliament.

However, several politicians have been arrested and hundreds have been banned from traveling, and the former president, who lives outside Tunisia, Moncef Marzouki, has been indicted for verbal attacks on Saied.

Saied’s support is also declining among large segments of civil society, among groups that initially seized power.

Since 2011, January 14th has been a public holiday in Tunisia – with the exception of Sidi Bouzid, which marks the revolution every year on December 17th.