Armed with wooden sticks, knives and stones, shopkeepers fought back against a small group of hardcore protesters who tried to storm the capital's tree-lined Bourguiba Avenue, scene of dozens of protests during Tunisia's "Jasmine Revolution."We shall see if Egyptian protesters start to fracture as they get tired, scared, or are satisfied with limited reforms that fall short of immediate regime change. The Egyptian government doesn't have to defeat or satisfly all the protesters to survive this crisis--just enough of them. As long as they do it before the security forces can fracture, of course. There's that possibility, too.
"We want stability. We have a transitional government now... We are against chaos. These people want everything to change in a day," Ahmed Oueslati, who owns a nearby haberdashery shop.
"We're nearly bankrupt. They stopped all our business," said Oueslati, who chased down protesters with a metal pole.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
When Enough is Enough
A reminder from Tunisia that protesters are a varied lot and some are more satisfied than others with some progress and may have reasons to accept limited progress that other protesters don't have:
