Bouazizi’s 2010 self-immolation triggered the Tunisian uprising.

Evidence

On December 17, 2010, an impoverished fruit and vegetable vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi pushed his cart onto the streets of Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, when police confronted him over his lack of permits. They confiscated his cart and scales. Bouazizi claimed that a female officer slapped him in the face. Humiliated and desperate, he threatened to burn himself alive if the authorities didn’t return his belongings. When no one listened, he doused himself in paint thinner and set himself on fire. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 257