Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire

December 17, 2010

A 26-year-old Tunisian fruit vendor humiliated by police and bureaucrats walked into a square in Sidi Bouzid, doused himself with paint thinner, and lit a match. He died in a hospital in January. By then his act of desperate protest had ignited the Arab Spring, toppling four dictators within a year and shaking the rest.