LONDON, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- The British government said Thursday it was "appalled" by attacks on Tunisian forces in Sidi Bouzid, the scene of the country's revolution.
A protest suicide in December 2010 led to a national uprising that unseated longtime leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali the following year. Tunisia's revolution sparked the wave of upheavals known as the Arab Spring.
The Tunisian government declared a three-day mourning period Wednesday in response to a militant attack in Sidi Bouzid in which six national guardsmen were killed.
"I was appalled and saddened by news of the attack yesterday on Tunisian national guards in Sidi Bouzid, the birthplace of the Arab Spring," British Minister for the Middle East and North African Hugh Robertson said in a statement. "The United Kingdom continues to offer its full support to the government and people of Tunisia in fulfilling the hopes and aspirations stemming from the historic events in Sidi Bouzid in January 2011."
Tunisia is struggling to establish a durable political foundation.
Ennahda, the Islamist party that took power after the revolution, announced in September it would step down amid frustration with its religious leanings. Ennahda said it would hand power over to a caretaker government tasked with paving the way to new elections.
