14th January: Tunisian revolution.
The Tunisian Revolution,[8] also known as the Jasmine Revolution,[9] was an intensive campaign of civil resistance, including a series of street demonstrations taking place in Tunisia. The events began on 18 December 2010 and led to the ousting of longtime president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011. It eventually led to a thorough democratization of the country and to free and democratic elections. They saw the victory of a coalition of the Islamist Ennahda Movement with the centre-left Congress for the Republic and the left-leaning Ettakatol as junior partners.
The demonstrations were precipitated by high unemployment, food inflation, corruption,[10][11] a lack of political freedoms like freedom of speech[12] and poor living conditions. The protests constituted the most dramatic wave of social and political unrest in Tunisia in three decades[13][14] and have resulted in scores of deaths and injuries, most of which were the result of action by police and security forces against demonstrators. The protests were sparked by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi on 17 December 2010[15][16][17] and led to the ousting of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali 28 days later on 14 January 2011, when he officially resigned after fleeing toSaudi Arabia, ending 23 years in power.[18][19] Labour unions were said to be an integral part of the protests.[20]The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet was awarded the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize for "its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Tunisian Revolution of 2011".[21] The protests inspired similar actions throughout the Arab world.
Following Ben Ali's departure from the country, a state of emergency was declared. The Constitutional Court affirmed Fouad Mebazaa as acting president under Article 57 of the Constitution. A caretaker coalition government was also created, including members of Ben Ali's party, the Constitutional Democratic Rally (CDR), in key ministries, while including other opposition figures in other ministries, with elections to take place within 60 days. However, five newly appointed non-CDR ministers resigned[22][23] almost immediately, and daily street protests in Tunis and other towns around Tunisia continued, demanding that the new government have no CDR members and that the CDR itself be disbanded.[23][24][25] On 27 January Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchireshuffled the government, removing all former CDR members other than himself. On 6 February the new interior minister suspended all party activities of the CDR, citing security reasons.[26] The party was dissolved, as protesters had demanded, on 9 March 2011.[27]
Following further public protests, Ghannouchi himself resigned on 27 February, and Béji Caïd Essebsi became Prime Minister; two other members of the Interim Government resigned on the following day. On 3 March 2011, the president announced the elections for the Constituent Assembly, which were held on 23 October 2011 with the Islamist Ennahda Party winning the plurality of seat.
from Wikipedia.