That the events in Tunisia took place far beyond the region’s traditional centers of power did little to diminish the enthusiasm they seemed to generate. In fact, the very spectacle of crowds surging into the streets and overwhelming decades of accumulated power in the hands of a highly centralized, American-backed government seemed an antidote to the despair of past years — carnage in Iraq, divisions among Palestinians and Israeli intransigence and the yawning divide between ruler and ruled on almost every question of foreign policy. 
 
 The protests’ success gripped a region whose residents have increasingly complained of governments that seem incapable of meeting their demands and are bereft of any ideology except perpetuating power. The combustible mix that inspired them — economic woes and revulsion at corruption and repression — seemed to echo in so many other countries in the Middle East, American allies like Egypt foremost among them. 
 
 Al Jazeera headlined its broadcasts: “Tunisia ... the street creates change.” 
 
 Mohammed al-Maskati, a blogger in Bahrain, put it more bluntly on Twitter. “It actually happened in my lifetime!” he wrote. “An Arab nation woke up and said enough.” 
 
 Through the eight years of the Bush administration, democratization was at least a rhetorical priority of American policy in the Middle East, even as the United States maintained its support for Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other authoritarian governments in the region. On Thursday, as the protests in Tunisia were escalating, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton issued a scathing critique of Arab leadership and the region’s political and economic stagnation. Her comments seemed one attempt to reposition the United States, which backed Tunisia’s dictatorial leader as a partner against terrorism. 
 
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 In the end, the most dramatic change in the old Arab order in years was inspired by Mohamed Bouazizi, the 26-year-old university graduate who could find work only as a fruit and vegetable vendor. He set himself on fire in a city square in December when the police seized his cart and mistreated him. 
 
 A Facebook page called Tunisians hailed him as “the symbol of the Tunisian revolution.” “God have mercy on you, Tunisia’s martyr, and on the all free martyrs of Tunisia,” it read. “One candle burns to create light and one candle beats all oppression.” 
 
 In Egypt, his name came up at a small solidarity protest. 
 
 “Egypt needs a man like Mohamed Bouazizi,” said Abdel-Halim Qandil, a journalist and opposition leader who joined dozens of others at the Tunisian Embassy. 
 
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 The momentum of Tunisia’s street protests overshadowed other instances of dissent in the Arab world. In Egypt, protesters, often lacking in numbers, are occasionally beset by divisions between secular and religious activists. The mass protests in Lebanon that followed the assassination of Rafik Hariri, a former prime minister, in February 2005 ended up deepening divisions in a country almost evenly split over questions of ideology, sectarian loyalty and foreign patrons. 
 
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 Tunisians’ grievances were as specific as universal: rising food prices, corruption, unemployment and the repression of a state that viewed almost all dissent as subversion. 
 
 Smaller protests, many of them over rising prices, have already taken place in countries like Morocco, Egypt, Algeria and Jordan. Egypt, in particular, seems to bear at least a passing resemblance to Tunisia — a heavy-handed security state with diminishing popular support and growing demands from an educated, yet frustrated, population. 
 
 In Jordan, hundreds protested the cost of food in several cities, even after the government hastily announced measures to bring the prices down. Libya abolished taxes and customs duties on food products, and Morocco tried to offset a surge in grain prices. 
 
 “It’s the creeping realization that more and more people are being marginalized and pauperized and that, increasingly, life is more difficult,” said Rami Khouri, director of the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut. “You need little events that capture the spirit of the time. Tunisia best captures that in the Arab world.” 
 
 Despite the enthusiasm, the scene Friday night in Cairo might serve as caution. 
 
 The protesters who gathered at the Tunisian Embassy in the upscale neighborhood of Zamalek chanted slogans into a megaphone and waved red Tunisian flags. They went through a litany of the region’s strongmen — from Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya to Hosni Mubarak of Egypt — and warned each that his day of reckoning was coming. 
 
 “Down, down with Hosni Mubarak!” some chanted. 
 
 “Ben Ali, you fraud! Mubarak, you fraud! Qaddafi, you fraud!” others shouted. 
 
 They were ringed by police officers in black berets, and outnumbered by them, as well. They had little room to maneuver. And an hour later, the protesters went their way, a Tunisian flag flying from one of the cars, as it ventured down a largely empty street. ||||| Hassene Dridi, AP 
 
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 TUNIS, Tunisia -- Gunfire rang out Sunday in central Tunis near the Interior Ministry, as police and troops try to calm tensions after the president's ouster.Issam Chebbi, a senior member of the main opposition party PDP, said a gunfight also broke out Sunday between security forces and unidentified attackers in front of the opposition party headquarters. A big crowd was gathered in front of the building and heavy security was deployed in the area.Soon afterward, repeated volleys of gunfire were heard nearby, near the Interior Ministry. The source of the shots was unclear.The violence broke out as Tunisia sped toward a new future after its iron-fisted leader fled. A new interim president ordered the country's first multiparty government to be formed.But violence in many parts of the capital heaped doubt on hopes for a smooth transition to a new era.The omnipresent posters of ex-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali were coming down, a vivid signal to citizens that Tunisia is moving on after 23 years of autocratic rule. Even the main state TV station changed its name.For Tunisians who protested for four weeks - with police shooting dozens to death - the announcement that a "government of national unity" would be formed opens the possibility of a leap toward democracy in this Muslim country in North Africa whose modernity clashed with Ben Ali's repressive rule.The nation must wait 60 days to see whether the party that maintained the ex-leader in power gets an upper hand in the new government, locking the old system back in place.The 74-year-old Ben Ali fled his country Friday for Saudi Arabia, literally chased out by angry legions of citizens protesting joblessness, corruption and lack of freedoms - a first for an Arab country. Numerous citizens laid a large measure of blame for his fate on his in-laws, supremely wealthy and considered just as corrupt.The interim president, Fouad Mebazaa, the former president of the lower house of parliament, was named Saturday - the second change of power in fewer than 24 hours. He quickly ordered the creation of a unity government that by its nature would include the opposition which had been frozen out under Ben Ali."We can start to hope," said a founder of the main opposition party, the Progressive Democratic Party, Nejib Chebbi. The question now, he said, is whether a new government will be pluralistic or again dominated by Ben Ali's ruling RCD party. "If the RCD is dominant, we're not out of the woods."The Tunis airport reopened Saturday but the state of emergency declared Thursday continued. Instability ruled in the streets and spotter helicopters churned in the sky above the capital.Fire blackened the main Tunis train station, torched along with large stores and scattered shops as troublemakers defied a curfew Friday night.At least 42 people were killed Saturday in a prison fire in a resort town and the director of another prison let 1,000 inmates flee after a deadly rebellion.Assailants fired on police guarding the Interior Ministry in a bold attack on the symbol of the Ben Ali reign and police returned fire, battening down the city center. An Associated Press Television News cameraman near the scene saw two bodies on the ground. Their identities were not known.Street violence took a new form Saturday with marauding gangs sacking homes in at least one wealthy neighborhood and residents, armed with golf clubs, forming self-styled vigilante committees to protect themselves.Rumors were rife in a chaotic Tunisia, with some citizens voicing suspicions the gangs were made up of Ben Ali loyalists bent on sewing chaos in the country.Many Tunisians also expressed worries about what lies ahead."This all happened in three days. Maybe tomorrow we can't eat," said Mohsen Yacoubi, referring to the mostly closed shops in the capital. He said Ben Ali's departure should have been negotiated over time. "Instead, it's war right away."Soldiers took up posts around Tunis, with tanks guarding strategic facilities like ministries and some major crossroads. The army presence was clear but discrete. Police were everywhere.Two quick changes in leadership since Ben Ali bowed out fed rumors that the army was the shadow ruler in a country without a government.Longtime Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi, a Ben Ali ally, stepped stepped in briefly Friday to assume power after Ben Ali fled, leaving open the possibility that the longtime leader could return. But on Saturday, Constitutional Council President Fethi Abdennadher declared the president's departure permanent and gave lawmaker Mebazaa 60 days in which to organize new elections.Hours later, 77-year-old Mebazaa was sworn in and announced that all parties will be consulted "without exception or exclusion.""Ben Ali was a military dictator and everyone knows it," said Nouredine Jouini, 56, a former mechanical designer now guarding a closed up mall on Tunis' main avenue. But, he added, "The people aren't dumb. We know the prime minister was appointed by defense forces .... But it won't stay this way. Tunisia will function."Streets were flush with police, for decades the most visible - and most feared - force in Tunisia. Cars were checked, particularly rental cars considered suspect as gangs combed the city.In the idyllic coastal resort of Monastir, a prison fire killed 42 people, coroner Tarek Mghirbi told The Associated Press on Saturday. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear. In Mahdia, a resort town further down the coast, inmates were set free after a rebellion by prisoners who set fire to the facility holding some 1,000. Soldiers opened fire and five inmates were killed, a top local official said, asking not to be identified because of security concerns.A Paris-based photographer, Lucas Mebrouk Dolega of the EPA photo agency, was in critical condition Saturday after being hit in the face by a tear gas canister.An Associated Press photographer saw soldiers fire warning shots and try to stop looters from sacking the supermarket in Ariana, north of the capital, to no avail. Shops near the Tunis bazaar were also looted.Public television station TV7 - just renamed Tunisian National Television - broadcast phone calls from residents of working-class neighborhoods on the capital's outskirts, describing attacks against their homes by knife-wielding assailants. Young boys were seen armed with long sticks along some streets.The wealthy were not spared, with some homes sacked in the upper class La Marsa neighborhood.Tunisian television has urged citizens to organize patrols, and men and boys in the tony Tunis neighborhood of El Menzah set up makeshift barricades and armed themselves with golf clubs and baseball bats for patrols against intruders.Businesses owned by member's of Ben Ali's family also appeared to be targets. The family of the ex-president's wife, Leila Trabelsi, has financial interests in wide-ranging sectors from banking to car dealerships. A branch of the Zeitouna bank in Tunis founded by Ben Ali's son-in-law was torched, as were vehicles made by Kia, Fiat and Porsche - brands distributed in Tunisia by members of the ruling family."This isn't good at all. I'm very afraid for the kids and myself," said Lilia Ben Romdhan, a mother of three in central Tunis. "If (Ben Ali) had stayed in the country it would be better."Saudi King Abdullah's palace ended hours of speculation about where Ben Ali had fled to, confirming Saturday that the ousted president and some family members had landed in Saudi Arabia. The palace said the kingdom welcomed him with a wish for "peace and security to return to the people of Tunisia."A source inside the kingdom said he was in the small city of Abha, about 310 miles (500 kilometers) south of Jeddah - taken there to avoid sparking any possible demonstrations by Tunisians living in the larger, seaside city of Jeddah. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.The whereabouts of all family members were unclear.The French government said some members are in France - former colonial ruler - but are "not welcome." Spokesman Francois Baroin told France-Info radio that Ben Ali's family "have not shown a desire to stay on French soil and are going to leave."Thousands of tourists were being evacuated from the Mediterranean nation, where tourism is a chief industry.Ben Ali's downfall sent a warning to other autocratic leaders across the Arab world, especially because he did not seem vulnerable until very recently and managed his country of 10 million better than many other Middle Eastern nations.However, the new era he dubbed "The Change" - starting when he snatched power from the nation's founder, President Habib Bourguiba, in a bloodless palace coup in 1987 - never fully materialized.The improved quality of life for many failed to keep up with the increased limits on civil rights like freedom of expression and a growing reputation as a police state - invisible to the tourists flocking to the country's Mediterranean beaches.The unemployment rate stands officially at 14 percent but is thought to be far higher among the young - who make up 52 percent of Tunisia's 10 million inhabitants.The self-immolation, and eventual death, of a 26-year-old university graduate selling fruits in central Tunisia triggered a dizzying series of riots that moved to the capital and, relayed by social media like Facebook, spun into general anger over the regime.Nicolas Garriga, Oleg Cetinic in Tunis, Hassan Ammar in Doha, Qatar and Angela Doland and Jenny Barchfield in Paris contributed to this report. ||||| The leadership of this troubled country changed hands for the second time in less than 24 hours Saturday as security forces and ordinary Tunisians struggled to quell mayhem that some have attributed to henchmen loyal to ousted President Zine el Abidine ben Ali Fouad Mebazaa, president of the lower house of the parliament, was sworn in as chief of state amid fast-moving political developments and chaotic lawlessness that have transformed Tunisia into a symbol of revolution in the Arab world.Mebazaa, 77, became the national president less than a day after Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia , handing power to his prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, whose appointment sparked new demonstrations and questions about constitutional propriety. Mebazaa promised in a televised speech to consult with all political parties before holding elections within 60 days."I urge you all, and all dynamic forces of political parties, national organizations and components of civil society to put national interest first and to help the armed forces and national security in maintaining security and in protecting private and public property, and to restore calm and tranquillity to all citizens," he said.With video of the uprising airing constantly on satellite television throughout the region, the events in Tunisia have captivated Arabs who hope it will inspire the toppling of other entrenched authoritarian regimes. That has raised the stakes for a people's power rebellion that could be threatened by the continuing violence.Tension and confusion gripped the streets, where many residents spent hours searching for bread and other food.Army tanks were positioned in the heart of Tunis, along the capital's main Avenue Habib Bourguiba . Death toll figures were not available, but scores of people across the nation have died in the unrest, including 57 reportedly killed Saturday in an inferno at a prison.As a 5 p.m. curfew approached, surly young men appeared to be gathering steam for another night of clashes with police officers, who stalked sidewalks wearing riot gear and holding clubs, menacing pedestrians who didn't move quickly enough.As night fell, occasional bursts of gunfire could be heard throughout Tunis and its suburbs, as well as the occasional roar of army helicopters roaming the skies.Common criminals and overzealous young demonstrators have contributed to the spasm of looting and violence in this previously placid and tightly controlled North African country. But just as loyalists to Iraq's Saddam Hussein set off fires and released prisoners in the wake of his 2003 ouster by U.S.-led forces, security officials loyal to the autocratic Ben Ali, many Tunisians suspect, have played a role in the unrest here."These are not ordinary people," said Bochra Belhaj Hmida, a lawyer and human rights activist. "They are at risk because they tortured people. They are going to be condemned for their crimes if they are arrested."The country's constitutional court ruled Saturday that the departure of Ben Ali, driven out of office Friday after weeks of protests over rising food prices, unemployment and a lack of political freedom, was permanent. And France , the former colonial power that had long backed Ben Ali, asked relatives of the former president who had entered the country to leave and announced the launch of investigations of suspicious money transfers between Tunisia and France.Many Tunisians suspect that former members of Ben Ali's presidential guard, his most brutal adjutants in the Interior Ministry and loyalists in his ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally were fomenting the violence to discredit the protesters and contribute to chaos that would justify harsh security measures."These are people from the ex-government who are orchestrating everything," said Mokhtar Trifi, president of the Tunisian Human Rights League, an opposition group.Officials of the interim government could not be reached for comment. But there were signs that security forces loyal to the interim government, especially the army, were trying to beat back efforts by the former regime to spread chaos.Al Jazeera pan-Arab satellite television network reported the arrest of Ali Seriati, the head of Ben Ali's despised presidential guard. In the capital's November 7 Square, police fatally shot two of their own, explaining to a European journalist at the scene that the pair were former regime loyalists who were responsible for crimes.Mohammad ben Ghomdhan, head of a small socialist political party, Renewal, that is conferring with the interim government, said officials had told him Saturday that during the preceding two days, soldiers at army checkpoints had seized two armored Interior Ministry vehicles filled with weapons.On television shows, on the Internet and in the few cafes that remained open in the capital, many said they feared that security officials close to Ben Ali also were responsible for an outbreak of violence at the country's prisons. Al Jazeera cited a medical source as saying 57 people had died in a fire at a prison in Monastir, about 80 miles southeast of the capital, amid reports of attempted escapes at at least two other detention facilities.Al Jazeera also reported that political prisoners held at Borj Roumi prison in the northern port city of Bizerte had been released. It was not clear who had given the order to free them.On the streets, the tension between the population and the police, which answers to the Interior Ministry, was palpable, as was the higher status that Tunisians accord their army.When police officers tried to detain a young man at the square near the Republic Metro station, a crowd waiting for a tram erupted with fury, moving toward the officers and tossing rocks. The police fired teargas volleys, but the crowd only got angrier and moved closer."We are not afraid!" they chanted.A group of soldiers ran into the square to intervene, forcing the police to release the man. The crowd cheered the man as he boarded the tramway platform.Numerous videos posted on the Internet during the weeks of protest showed police officers in uniform smashing shop windows and setting fires. In the hours after Ben Ali stepped down, residents of the Manar and Menzah neighborhoods of Tunis reported spotting vans dropping off people armed with clubs and canisters of gasoline to start fires. Some of the witnesses said the vehicles were escorted by police.Ben Ghomdhan said that unlike in post-invasion Iraq, where the U.S. disbanded the army and regime stalwarts were able to organize an insurgency in the ensuing power vacuum, Tunisia's interim government and relatively popular army were already a step ahead of the Ben Ali loyalists."I think they cannot win," he said. "These networks have been identified, from the information that I have so far. Their chief, Seriati, has been arrested, and many of his networks have already been arrested."
– Tunisia got a new interim president today—parliamentary leader Fouad Mebazaa—who is technically the third leader in 24 hours, notes the Los Angeles Times. He takes over from the previous interim president, who briefly held power when longtime leader El Abidine Ben Ali fled the country in the face of mass protests over rising prices, joblessness, corruption, repression, you name it. The storyline continues to shape up as one that could set a historical precedent—an Arab populace rising up against its leader. Anthony Shadid, New York Times: "The most enthusiastic suggested it was the Arab world’s Gdansk, the birthplace of Solidarity in Poland, which heralded the end to Communist rule in Eastern Europe. That seemed premature, particularly because the contours of the government emerging in Tunisia were still unclear." Shadi Hamid, Huffington Post: "No one should underestimate what happened yesterday in Tunisia. If the revolution succeeds, it may very well prove to be one of the most important moments in recent Arab history. It will alter the calculus not only for Arab regimes—who are watching very, very nervously—but for Western powers that have long oriented their Middle East policy around seemingly stable, autocratic governments." Click for the latest as chaos continues on the streets.