Nizar Issaoui, a 35-year-old Tunisian footballer, was reported to have committed suicide earlier this week in protest at “police injustice”; his family verified his death from the ensuing burns on Friday.
In Haffouz, Issaoui’s hometown, police and protestors clashed violently. Police opened fire on a mob of demonstrators gathered in front of the police station.
Issaoui, a former US Monastir player and father of four, uploaded a video on Facebook saying he was demonstrating in Haffouz, Kairouan, central Tunisia because he had been wrongfully accused of terrorism.
The striker was a free agent who had been playing in the amateur leagues before his death, according to his brother Ryad. He got third-degree burns, and doctors were unable to save his life.
No one from the interior ministry could be contacted immediately for comment.
According to local media, Issaoui staged his unusual protest outside a police station when authorities there accused him of “terrorism” after he complained about the high price of bananas.
In a video selfie that has gone popular online, Issaoui can be heard screaming, “For a dispute with someone selling bananas for 10 dinars ($3.29), I get accused of terrorism at the police station,” Terrorism is fuelled by bananas.”
On December 17, 2010, Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor in the village of Sidi Bouzid, set himself on fire after a policewoman took his fruit cart.
Mohamed Bouazizi’s death sparked riots that finally led to the overthrow of Ben Ali and sparked upheavals throughout the Middle East.
The player’s family has publicly expressed their displeasure, and a large gathering of residents has protested in front of the police station.
