TUNIS: A Tunisian court dropped charges Tuesday against a policewoman whose dispute with a fruit vendor sparked a chain of events that unleashed uprisings around the Arab world. The state news agency TAP says the case against Fedia Hamdi was closed after the vendor's family withdrew its original complaint. The family says it acted in a gesture of tolerance and an effort to heal wounds suffered in Tunisia's upheaval of recent months. The case was at the heart of what has become a season of protests against autocratic leaders stretching across Arab lands from Yemen to Morocco. Hamdi was accused of slapping vendor Mohamed Bouazizi in December in the provincial Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid. Bouazizi's wares were confiscated on the ground that he didn't have a permit. Humiliated, Bouazizi doused himself with gasoline and set it ablaze in front of the governor's office. He later died of full-body burns he suffered in the protest. Horrified residents staged a demonstration in support of Bouazizi's act — an unusual eruption of public defiance in a country known for its political stability and sandy beaches, and where dissent was routinely quashed. That demonstration spawned others by Tunisians angry over unemployment, corruption and repression. Police fired at protesters, fanning the anger, and the movement spread around the country. On Jan. 14, longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was forced to flee. Pro-democracy protests quickly erupted in several Arab countries. An uprising forced Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak to step down, and an armed rebellion is challenging Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. The Tunisian court decision comes as the country is struggling to build a new democracy and rebuild its economy. It is being watched closely by other Arab countries facing protests of their own. Since the overthrow of Ben Ali, thousands of Tunisians have left their country and attempted the dangerous trip across the choppy Mediterranean in old fishing boats. Tunisia's interim government is appealing for patience, saying it needs time to put in place an ambitious economic development plan.
