Tunisians mark 2nd death anniversary of 'Arab Spring initiator'

Two years on since 'Arab Spring' and Tunisia is still in turmoil Two years ago today Tunisian fruit vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, set himself on fire in protest against corruption in his country, after police officers confiscated his only means of making a living: his cart of vegetables and scales. The 26-year -old set himself alight in Sid Bouazid, an impoverished city in the North African country. His actions sparked the Arab world alight and led to what many call today the "Arab Spring".
However, as the country marks the second anniversary of Bouazizi's death, one wonders what exactly has changed. A clear example was shown on Monday when protesters hurled rocks at President Moncef Marzouki and parliamentary speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar. Invading the square in Sidi Bouzid where speeches were taking place, the protesters shouted "The people want the fall of the government” and "Get out! Get out!" - one of the rallying cries of the revolution that toppled the regime of former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Activist Khaled Awanaah told Arabstoday: "There are two confronting groups in the city: those who want to celebrate the "great achievements" of the revolution, and those who think that the revolution did not change anything."
Marzouki promised economic progress within six months to the people of Sidi Bouzid, with poverty and unemployment key factors behind the revolt that began there on December 17, 2010. Tunisia's economic recovery, after last year's recession, has been hampered by persistent insecurity and the crisis in Europe, with unemployment pegged at around 18 percent, fuelling the anger and frustration of many young Tunisians.
Late last month, around 300 people were wounded in five straight days of clashes between police and protesters in the town of Siliana, southwest of Tunis, where a strike swiftly degenerated into violence.
The President, a secular, centre-left ally of the Islamist party Ennahda, which heads Tunisia's ruling coalition, stressed that the government did not have a "magic wand" to fix the country's problems, and urged patience.
"It will take time to mend what we have inherited from 50 years of dictatorship and I understand this legitimate anger. But the government has diagnosed the problem. In six months, a stable government will be in place and will provide the remedy to heal the country's problems," the President said. "For the first time, we have a government which is not stealing from the people," Marzouki added.
However, protesters on Monday were fuming with the lack of progress in the country.
"You came here a year ago and you promised that things would change in six months, but nothing has changed!" one protester shouted.
"We don't want you here," cried another.
The Islamist-led government has struggled to meet the expectations of many ordinary Tunisians, with clashes and strikes, as well as attacks by Islamists, multiplying across the country in the run-up to Monday's celebrations.
Tunisia's radical Islamists also gathered outside the prefecture in Sidi Bouzid on Monday, with members of the Hizb Ettahrir party waving the black flag of the hardline Salafist movement.
The Salafists have been implicated in numerous acts of violence since the revolution, including against Sufi shrines and art galleries and an attack in September on the US embassy in Tunis that left four people dead.
Since last week, the authorities have been hunting an armed group of suspected Islamists in the Kasserine region, next to Sidi Bouzid, who killed a policeman near the Algerian border.
The country has also been plunged into a political impasse over the drafting of a new constitution, which has been delayed by disagreement among lawmakers over whether the political system should be presidential or parliamentary.