TUNIS, Tunisia — Masses of Tunisians marched in peaceful triumph Saturday to mark the first anniversary of the revolution that ended the dictatorship of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali — and sparked uprisings around the Arab world.
Tunisia greeted the anniversary with prudent optimism, amid worries about high unemployment that cast a shadow over their pride at transforming the country.
Now a human-rights activist is president, and a moderate Islamist jailed for years by the old regime is prime minister at the head of a diverse coalition, after the freest elections in Tunisia’s history.
Tunisia’s uprising began Dec. 17, 2010, when a desperate fruit vendor set himself on fire, unleashing pent-up anger and frustration among his compatriots, who staged protests that spread nationwide. Within less than a month, longtime President Ben Ali was forced out of power, and he fled to Saudi Arabia on Jan. 14.
Boisterous marches Saturday reflected the country’s new atmosphere.
On a crisp, sunny day in Tunisia’s capital, Islamists shouted “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is Great.” Alongside them were leftists and nationalists celebrating freedom and mourning the more than 200 people killed in the month-long uprising.
Leading Arab dignitaries joined Tunisia’s leaders for anniversary ceremonies. They included Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who faced down protests in his own country last year; the head of Libya’s interim government, Mustafa Abdel-Jalil, who helped lead opposition to Moammar Khadafy; and the emir of Qatar.
“The democratic process that has begun is now irreversible, after the dark period” of the past, President Moncef Marzouki said. He was an activist who was exiled by the previous regime.
Abdel-Jalil called the Tunisian revolution “a determining factor for the success of the uprising” in Libya.
The new leadership, to mark the anniversary, pardoned 9,000 convicts and converted the sentences of more than 100 prisoners from the death penalty to life in prison, the state news agency TAP reported.
