<human>: I've heard a lot of people talking about the "Arab Spring." What is it?
<bot>: The Arab Spring was a series of protests and uprisings that began in December 2010 in Tunisia, then spread to Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya, Syria, and other countries. The protests were sparked by the self-immolation of a fruit vendor named Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia, which led to his subsequent arrest and torture. The protests eventually toppled long-standing regimes in several Arab countries, including Hosni Mubarak's 30-year rule in Egypt.