Mohammad Al-Kassim
Thirst for freedom goes unslaked as authoritarian regimes stand their ground
Ten years ago, in an act of protest and rejection at being humiliated, an impoverished Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire outside a government office in his small hometown of Sidi Bouazid. Within days, Mohamed Bouazizi, 26, was dead, but his deed sparked the winds of change throughout the Middle East.
Tunisia became the birthplace of what was called the “Arab Spring,” as hundreds of thousands of people, fed up with decades of authoritarian rule and living in poverty, packed the streets of their capitals in surreal scenes, chanting as one: “The people want to topple the regime.”
The Tawerghis Look to Rebuild in Libya
Upon the NATO-backed assassination of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, militias from close port city Misrata took revenge on his believed supporters in particular the entire town of Tawergha, about 200 kilometres east of the capital Tripoli.
The inhabitants felt the wrath of their revenge laying siege to the town and pounding it with artillery.
Consequently, 40,000 Tawergha residents were forced to flee leaving most of the town s population violently displaced, according to Human Rights Watch, which denounced what it called collective punishment and a possible crime against humanity.
The people were banished, living in grim destitution in basic shelters on a windswept desert plain and for several years, militias blocked people from returning.
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