The Hindu : Miscellaneous / This Day That Age : dated June 3, 1955: Freedom for Tunisia

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Friday, Jun 03, 2005

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - This Day That Age

dated June 3, 1955: Freedom for Tunisia

The red and white flag of Tunisia flew over Carthage on June 1 for the first time in 74 years to mark the granting of home rule and the return from exile of Mr. Habib Bourguiba who fought to make it possible The Nationalist leader made a triumphal entry into the port of Tunis, La Goulette, just three and a half years after armed French police escorted him out of the protectorate into exile. Tens of thousands of people cheered him all the way from the port to the ancient city of Carthage where the aged Bey Sidi Lamine ignored protocol by leaving his throne to greet the father of Tunisian independence. Mr. Bourguiba, with tears in his eyes, threw himself into the arms of the Bey and for a few moments the two men embraced each other warmly. After a short private talk with the Bey, Mr. Bourguiba left for his home in Tunis along a ten-mile route lined with dense cheering crowds. The wild enthusiasm surrounding his home-coming reached new heights when he faced some 100,000 people massed under a broiling sun at a square near his house. "We must be like brothers together. As long as Frenchmen and foreigners who live alongside us in this land respect us, we will associate them with our future," he said.

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