Tunisian government dissolved to calm street protests
Prime Minister Hamdi Jebali dissolved his Islamist-led coalition government in an attempt to calm the country following an eruption of street protests sparked by the assassination of a left-wing lawyer, Chokri Belaid. He announced he would appoint an interim cabinet of technocrats until new elections. Belaid spoke for many secular Tunisians who fear religious radicals are stifling freedoms won in the first of the Arab Spring uprisings.