Egypt-inspired protests gain pace across region

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Egypt-inspired protests gain pace across region

By – 1 hr 25 mins ago

PARIS (Reuters) – Anti-government protests inspired by popular revolts that

toppled rulers in Tunisia and Egypt are gaining pace around the Middle East and

North Africa despite political and economic concessions by nervous governments.

Clashes were reported in tightly controlled oil producer Libya, sandwiched

between Egypt and Tunisia, while new protests erupted in Bahrain, Yemen and Iran

on Wednesday.

The latest demonstrations against long-serving rulers came after U.S. President

Barack Obama, commenting on the overthrow of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak,

declared: " The world is changing...if you are governing these countries, you've

got to get out ahead of change, you can't be behind the curve. "

With young people able to watch pro-democracy uprisings in other countries on

satellite television or the Internet, and to communicate with like-minded

activists on social networks hard for the secret police to control, governments

across the region have grounds to fear contagion.

Hundreds of opponents of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in power since 1969,

clashed with police and government supporters in the eastern city of Benghazi

overnight, a witness and local media said.

Reports from the port city, 1,000 km (600 miles) east of the capital Tripoli,

said protesters armed with stones and petrol bombs set fire to vehicles and

fought with police in a rare outbreak of unrest in the oil-exporting country.

The riot in Libya's second city was sparked by the arrest of human rights

activist Fethi Tarbel, who has worked to free political prisoners, Quryna

newspaper said.

Gaddafi's opponents used the Facebook social network to call for protests across

Libya on Thursday.

In a possible concession to the protesters, Libya will free 110 members of the

banned militant organization the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group from Tripoli's

notorious Abu Salim prison on Wednesday, another human rights activist said.

POLITICAL, ECONOMIC CONCESSIONS

In Yemen, a 21-year old protester died from gunshot wounds after fierce clashes

broke out between police and demonstrators in the southern port town of Aden,

his father said, as unrest spread across the Arabian Peninsula state.

Mohammed Ali Alwani was among two people hit as police fired shots into the air

to try to break up around 500 protesters.

In the Yemeni capital Sanaa at least 800 anti-government protesters marched

against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a U.S. ally in the fight against al Qaeda.

In power for more than 30 years, Saleh has pledged to step down when his term

expires in 2013 and offered dialogue with the opposition, but radical protesters

are demanding he go now.

In Bahrain, protesters poured into the capital of the Gulf island kingdom,

Manama, for a third successive day to mourn a demonstrator killed in clashes

with security forces on Tuesday.

The emirate has a history of protest over economic hardship, the lack of

political freedom and sectarian discrimination by the Sunni rulers against the

Shi'ite majority.

Some 2,000 protesters demanding a change of government were encamped at a major

road junction in Manama, seeking to emulate rallies on Cairo's Tahrir Square

that toppled Mubarak.

In Iran, supporters and opponents of the hardline Islamic system clashed in

Tehran during a funeral procession for a student shot at an anti-government

rally two days ago, state broadcaster IRIB reported.

Both sides claimed Sanee Zhaleh was a martyr to their cause and blamed the other

for his death.

Monday's rallies in Tehran and several other Iranian cities were the first

staged by the Green pro-democracy movement since security forces crushed huge

protests in the months after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed 2009

re-election.

Rulers in several countries, drawing lessons from events in Tunisia and Egypt,

have announced political changes and moved to cut prices of basic foodstuffs and

raise spending on job creation in efforts to pre-empt spreading unrest.

SOCIAL NEEDS

Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika promised to lift a 19-year-old state of

emergency soon and has acted to reduce the cost of staple foods in the North

African oil and gas exporter.

Authorities deployed an estimated 30,000 police in Algiers on Saturday to

prevent a banned pro-democracy march. Several hundred protesters defied the ban

and dozens were detained.

A coalition of civil society and human rights groups and an opposition party

vowed afterwards to demonstrate every Saturday until the military-backed

government is removed.

Morocco, where the main banned Islamist opposition movement warned last week

that " autocracy " would be swept away unless there were deep democratic reforms,

announced on Tuesday it would almost double state subsidies to counter an

increase in commodity prices and address social needs.

Syria, controlled by the Baath Party for the last 50 years, released a veteran

Islamist activist on Tuesday after he went on hunger strike following his arrest

11 days ago for calling for Egyptian-style mass protests, human rights activists

said.

Jordan's King Abdullah has sacked his prime minister and appointed a new

government led by a former general who promised to widen public freedom in

response to anti-government protests.

Countries with oil and gas wealth such as Saudi Arabia and Algeria appear better

placed than poorer countries like Egypt and Tunisia to buy social peace.

(Editing by Angus MacSwan)