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Egyptian blogger Hossam el-Hamalawy told the BBC that people had been comparing the Tunisian political situation with their own. "There is great interest. The Egyptian people and the Egyptian public have been following the events in Tunisia with so much joy, since they can draw parallels between the Tunisian situation and their own," he said. Speaking on Monday after the initial incident in Egypt, Mr el-Hamalawy said the government would try to paint the attempted suicide as an isolated political act by a mentally unstable individual.

واستنكر الموقعون على البيان قيام نقيب الصحفيين المصريين أمين عام اتحاد الصحفيين العرب مكرم محمد أحمد، والنقيب الأسبق إبراهيم نافع، بمنح درع الاتحاد في أبريل 2010 لمن سموه "دكتاتور تونس" في إشارة إلى زين العابدين باعتباره من أنصار حرية الصحافة.

"Tunisians and Algerians are hungry. The Egyptians and Yemenis are right behind them," Emirati commentator Mishaal al-Gergawi wrote in the Dubai-based newspaper Gulf News. "Mohammad Bouazizi didn't set himself on fire because he couldn't blog or vote. People set themselves on fire because they can't stand seeing their family wither away slowly, not of sorrow, but of cold stark hunger."

without extreme vigilance on the part of the Tunisian public, the country might find itself, a few months from now, with another RCD president and a parliament still dominated by Ben Ali's party. Tunisians are going to have to remain very watchful, and keep up the pressure for change.