CAIRO — Protesters set themselves on fire in Egypt, Mauritania and Algeria on Monday in apparent copycat self-immolation attempts inspired by the act that helped trigger a popular uprising in Tunisia.

The incidents, while isolated, reflect the growing despair among the public of many Arab regimes resisting reform. They are deeply symbolic means of protest in a region that has little or no tolerance for dissent.

It was the self-immolation of a 26-year-old unemployed man in Tunisia last month that sparked the wave of protests that toppled President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali last week.

Ben Ali ruled with an iron fist for 23 years, time spent in the company of similarly authoritarian rulers across much of the Arab world like Libya’s Moammar Gadhafi, in power since 1969, Egypt’s Hosni Mubarak, in office since 1981, and Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has ruled that nation since he seized power more than 30 years ago.

The stunning collapse of the Tunisian leader drew a litany of calls for change elsewhere in the Arab world, but activists faced the reality of vast security forces heavily vested in the status quo and hard-line regimes that crack down on dissent.

The men who have set themselves alight in recent days appeared to have been inspired by the self-immolation of Tunisian Mohamed Bouazizi, a university graduate whose vegetable stand was confiscated by police because he had no permit. His death touched a nerve with educated, unemployed youths in the North African country, prompting the protests that toppled Ben Ali.

Self-immolation as a method of protest is uncommon in the Arab world, where many associate it with protesters in the Far East or the Indian subcontinent. But Egyptian women in rural or poor urban areas have been known to set themselves on fire to protest violent husbands, abusive parents or an unwanted suitor.

“It is clear that Tunisia and its events had an impact on Egypt as well as Algeria,” said veteran Egyptian columnist Salama Ahmed Salama. An attempted self-immolation in Cairo on Monday, he added, will be a “worrying element to the government.”