A satirical Facebook page, “I too burned a police station,” is trying to raise awareness about Tunisia’s persisting police problem.
Tunisia is where the Arab Spring kicked off — and where it is considered to have so far been most successful.
On Dec. 17, 2011, a frustrated fruit-seller, Mohammed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in Tunisia, igniting a chain of protests around the region over long-simmering political and socio-economic discontent. In the three years since the Arab Spring, Tunisia has fared far better than many of its revolutionary counterparts in nearby Egypt, Yemen, Syria, Libya, and Bahrain. On Jan. 27, Tunisia's parliament passed a constitution considered one of the most progressive in the region. On March 4, the government lifted the state of emergency in place since 2011. But problems remain.
This week a group of Tunisians launched a satirical Facebook group called, "I Too Burned a Police Station," in support of at least 20 activists facing criminal charges for events related to the 2011 revolution, according to the Facebook page.
"This is a campaign denouncing the false and arbitrary arrests against the young activists falsely accused of burning police stations," page administrator Fatma Asma Moatemri told Tunisia Live.
She added that it was "a satirical response of solidarity" and not a "call to violence."
About 300 people were killed and another 700 injured between December and January 2011, according to a U.N. fact-finding mission in May the same year.
"Revolution is not a crime. Freedom for the revolution of the youth."
