• 1956: Gains independence from France. • July 12, 1957: Tunisia is declared a Republic with Habib Bourguiba as president. • 1978: Dozens are killed by government forces repressing a general strike. • 1983: Tunisia sees widespread rioting due to an increase in bread prices. • November 7, 1987: Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali becomes president in a bloodless coup. • December 17, 2010: The self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi leads to rioting; his death is widely seen as the starting point of the Arab Spring across the region. • January 14, 2011: Ben Ali flees Tunisia after more than three weeks of anti-government protests. • January 15, 2011: Mohamed Ghannouchi resigns as acting president after just one day. • January 2011: Fouad Mebazaa becomes acting president. • October 2011: The Islamist Ennahda Party wins the first election after the revolution. • December 2011: Moncef Marzouki elected president. • March 2012: Ennahda refuses to make Shari’a law the basis of the Tunisian constitution. • February 6, 2013: Opposition leader Chokri Belaid is assassinated, leading to riots, the withdrawal of four parties from the national assemblies and calls for a general strike. • February 19, 2013: After his attempt to form a technocratic government fails, Hamadi Jebali resigns as prime minister. • February 2013: Ali Laarayedh is appointed prime minister. • July 2013: Opposition leader Mohamed Brahmi is assassinated, the second such assassination in six months. • January 2014: Ali Laarayedh resigns as prime minister and is replaced by caretaker prime minister Mehdi Jomaa following months of talks aimed at ending the political deadlock caused by Brahmi’s assassination. |
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