AFP/Paris

Demonstrators waving Tunisian flags march in Paris yesterday to celebrate the fall of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali

Tunisians living overseas welcomed the political changes in their homeland yesterday holding rallies that drew thousands who celebrated the downfall of the country’s authoritarian leader.

Some 8,000 people gathered in central Paris, according to police estimates, waving banners remembering those killed in the recent weeks of rioting in Tunisia, saying “Thank you to our martyrs, we will never forget you.”

“We’ve had a revolution, nothing will be the same again, we will not allow the people’s victory to be stolen,” declared 17-year-old student Hedi.

Najet Mizoni, 59, a law professor, said he was happy “to take part in the first revolution in the Arab world.”

Demonstrations were also reported in Switzerland, Italy and Belgium along with shows of solidarity across the Arab world in Egypt and Jordan.

Some 200 people marched in the city of Lausanne, while another 800 took to the streets in Geneva, with posters saying “Long live the revolution in Tunisia. All power to the people,” Swiss news agency ATS reported.

“Our dream has become reality, it is possible to chase the criminals out,” Anis Mansouri, co-ordinator of the Association of Tunisians in Switzerland, told ATS.

“We are crying with joy for the departure of Ben Ali, but the work begins now to construct a democracy,” he added.

Small groups of demonstrators staged rallies in the Italian cities of Rome, Milan and Palermo, urging a return to true democratic rule.

“Italy must support the process of democratisation in Tunisia and give up its policy of recent years of supporting dictatorship,” said Osama al-Saghir, one of the organisers of the sit-in outside the Tunisian consulate in Milan.

“Our big dream is to have a real democracy” in Tunisia, said Ben Mohamed Mohamed, head of the Tunisian immigrant association in Italy, in Rome.

In Belgium, more than 500 people of Tunisian origin demonstrated in downtown Brussels, many waving Tunisia’s red flag and singing the national anthem in a show of support for their compatriots after Ben Ali’s ouster.

Standing on the steps of the old Bourse building, they held a minute of silence for the people who died in the deadly protests that led to the president’s toppling.

In former colonial overlord France, rallies of expatriate Tunisians took place across the country.

More than 2,000 people turned out in Marseille, hailing the end to 23 years of Ben Ali’s rule.

“For more than 20 years we have been hoping for this revolution. Now we must quickly find a new president even though that is difficult because Ben Ali silenced all real political parties,” said Salim Moussa in Marseille.