Anti-government protests in 8 Arab countries (AP)

A look at the anti-government protests in eight Arab countries Friday:

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LIBYA

Militias loyal to ruler Moammar Gadhafi open fire on thousands of protesters in the Libyan capital of Tripoli. One man says gunmen on rooftops and in the streets open fire with automatic weapons and even an anti-aircraft gun. Witnesses report at least four killed, while other say the toll is higher. In the evening, Gadhafi appears before a crowd of more than 1,000 supporters in Tripoli and urges them to fight protesters and "defend the nation." Tripoli is the center of the eroding territory that Gadhafi still controls. The uprising that began Feb. 15 has swept over nearly the entire eastern half of the country, breaking cities there out of his regime's hold.

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IRAQ

Thousands march on government buildings and clash with security forces in cities across Iraq. Twelve people are killed in the largest and most violent anti-government protests in the country since political unrest began spreading in the Arab world. In the capital of Baghdad, demonstrators knock down blast walls and throw rocks. The protests are fueled by anger over corruption, chronic unemployment and shoddy public services from the Shiite-dominated government.

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YEMEN

Security forces open fire on thousands of demonstrators in the southern port city of Aden, wounding at least 19 people, in the latest confrontation with crowds pressing for the U.S.-backed president's ouster. Tens of thousands of protesters march in different parts of the country. President Ali Abdullah Saleh has promised to step down after national elections in 2013, but the demonstrators want him out now.

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EGYPT

Tens of thousands jam Cairo's main square. They are trying to keep up pressure on Egypt's military rulers to carry out reforms and call for the dismissal of holdovers from the regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak. Demonstrators say they are worried the army is not moving quickly enough on reforms, including repealing emergency laws and releasing political prisoners.

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BAHRAIN

Tens of thousands fill the central square of Bahrain's capital, Manama. Protesters have taken to the streets every day for the past two weeks, asking for sweeping political concessions from the ruling monarch. Security forces make no attempt to halt the marches.

Bahrain is the first Gulf state to be thrown into turmoil by the Arab world's wave of change. The unrest is highly significant for Washington because Bahrain sits at the center of its military framework in the region.

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JORDAN

About 4,000 protesters rally in the capital, Amman, the largest crowd yet in two months of unrest. The leader of Jordan's largest opposition group warns that patience is running out with what he called the government's slow steps toward reform. King Abdullah II, a key U.S. ally in the Middle East, has so far failed to quiet the calls for sweeping political change. The protesters want a bigger say in politics and for the prime minister to be chosen through elections, not by the king.

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TUNISIA

Police in Tunis fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse thousands of anti-government protesters in the center of the capital. Demonstrators massed in front of the Interior Ministry to call for the ouster of the interim government that has run Tunisia since strongman ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was toppled Jan. 14 and fled into exile. Tunisia has been relatively calm since Ben Ali's ouster.

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SAUDI ARABIA

About 300 Shiites protest against the Sunni-led government in a march in the east of the country. They disperse peacefully under the close watch of Saudi security forces. The kingdom had been largely quiet, and its ruler earlier this week promised a massive package of economic aid, including interest-free home loans, in hopes of forestalling unrest.

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Yemeni president tries to avert revolution as antigovernment voices grow louder (The Christian Science Monitor)

Sanaa, Yemen – As leaders across the Middle East feel the tremors of Egypt and Tunisia's uprisings, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has launched a campaign to stave off revolution in his country.

"Anybody who wants to reach power ... should pass through the ballot boxes, which are the only way, but not chaos, wrong mobilization and irresponsible utterance via media," said President Saleh in a Wednesday night speech to members of his ruling party and constituents from the northern, tribal-dominated Hajjah province.

But the image of Mr. Saleh as the guardian of stability, which he has long tried to maintain in the face of tribal tensions, limited resources, and the Arab world's poorest economy, is showing signs of fracturing.

Countries in the Middle East where the 'winds of change' are blowing

Saleh himself has shown signs of concern, canceling a trip to the US and meeting with tribal leaders in an apparent effort to preempt any shift in their loyalties. And even as pro-government demonstrators make their voices heard in Sanaa's Tahrir Square, the overall tone of the protests has become more explicitly antigovernment.

“Most Yemenis are frustrated with this situation and don’t want it to continue. They need a better government, more so than Tunisian and Egyptians,” says Hafez Albukari, president of the independent Yemen Polling Center. “These people are watching to see the developments – if the regime will make actual reforms or not.”

Hard line against protestersCalls for Saleh to step down have increased since Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak relinquished power five days ago and protests in Sanaa shifted from party-driven political rallies to antigovernment protests. In Taiz, a city just south of Sanaa known for having a relatively educated, yet poor populace, hundreds of young people demanding regime change have been staging a sit-in since last Friday.

While the numbers are still relatively small compared to the mass uprisings that took place in Tunisia and Egypt, protesters have routinely been attacked by pro-government thugs in what some say is a sign of fear that the events in Cairo could be replicated here.

“They are using force in Sanaa and Taiz against people, and this is what ended up toppling the governments in Tunisia and Egypt because it makes the people very angry,” says activist Mohamed Mohsin, who has suffered blows from people he says are plain-clothed police twice in the past week.

“In Egypt they used to say that it is different form Tunisia, and that’s why revolution couldn’t happen," he adds. "And now here they are saying the same thing. It is using force against the people that took these systems down.”

However, Abdelraham Maazab a parliamentarian from the ruling party says that reports of clashes between anti and pro-government in the past week have been inflated in an attempt to create momentum for an Egypt-like uprising.

“These clashes are very limited. If there were actual clashes on the streets of Yemen they would be very big,” says Mr. Maazab, alluding to the common idea that violence in Yemen escalates very quickly. “[The opposition] just wants to step up the problems in Yemen and it will keep doing so until it becomes like the Egypt situation.”

Yemen's Tahrir SquareAlready, thousands of tribesmen from pro-Saleh areas outside the capital have set up a base camp in Sanaa’s main Tahrir Square, which shares the same name as Cairo’s main square where protesters gathered day and night until Mubarak fell.

Each morning they hold political rallies, play patriotic songs loudly on microphones, and march around the square, which is being guarded by police chanting that by their soul and their blood they will support the current regime.

Pro-government men say that their presence in the square – where Yemen’s government announced a book fair is being held – is all part of political participation in any healthy democracy. Antigovernment protesters insist that these men have been paid by officials to stay in Tahrir Square, a claim that derives some support from the fact that police were handing out lunch to the crowds one afternoon.

“In Tahrir they give them 2,000 [Yemeni rials, or $9] a day and give them qat,” says activist Mohsin, referring to the mild narcotic that is wildly popular among Yemeni men.

Omar al-Masnah, a pro-government protester who was standing in front of Sanaa University on Tuesday morning in order to prevent antigovernment protesters from gathering, denied allegations that he was being directed by a higher command to show publicly display his support for the regime.

“I swear this is from my heart," says the business student. "Saleh fixed the problems in Yemen between tribes."

However, Albukari of the Yemen Polling Center says that the support for Saleh that is ostentatiously being displayed around the streets of Sanaa during the past week is not representative of how the majority of Yemenis feel.

Just two days ago, the 70-year-old leader met with tribal leaders from neighboring Amran province who “reiterated their commitment to stand in the way of all preachers of sedition, sabotage, and chaos and to defend the homeland and its stability, unity, and democratic approach,” according to Yemen’s official news agency.

“The president wants to make sure that the tribes surrounding Sanaa are more loyal to the Saleh regime,” says Hafez Albukari, president the Yemen Polling Center, a local independent NGO. Mr. Albukari says Saleh doesn't want any competitors.

Countries in the Middle East where the 'winds of change' are blowing

View the original article here

Yemeni president tries to avert revolution as antigovernment voices grow louder (The Christian Science Monitor)

Sanaa, Yemen – As leaders across the Middle East feel the tremors of Egypt and Tunisia's uprisings, Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has launched a campaign to stave off revolution in his country.

"Anybody who wants to reach power ... should pass through the ballot boxes, which are the only way, but not chaos, wrong mobilization and irresponsible utterance via media," said President Saleh in a Wednesday night speech to members of his ruling party and constituents from the northern, tribal-dominated Hajjah province.

But the image of Mr. Saleh as the guardian of stability, which he has long tried to maintain in the face of tribal tensions, limited resources, and the Arab world's poorest economy, is showing signs of fracturing.

Countries in the Middle East where the 'winds of change' are blowing

Saleh himself has shown signs of concern, canceling a trip to the US and meeting with tribal leaders in an apparent effort to preempt any shift in their loyalties. And even as pro-government demonstrators make their voices heard in Sanaa's Tahrir Square, the overall tone of the protests has become more explicitly antigovernment.

“Most Yemenis are frustrated with this situation and don’t want it to continue. They need a better government, more so than Tunisian and Egyptians,” says Hafez Albukari, president of the independent Yemen Polling Center. “These people are watching to see the developments – if the regime will make actual reforms or not.”

Hard line against protestersCalls for Saleh to step down have increased since Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak relinquished power five days ago and protests in Sanaa shifted from party-driven political rallies to antigovernment protests. In Taiz, a city just south of Sanaa known for having a relatively educated, yet poor populace, hundreds of young people demanding regime change have been staging a sit-in since last Friday.

While the numbers are still relatively small compared to the mass uprisings that took place in Tunisia and Egypt, protesters have routinely been attacked by pro-government thugs in what some say is a sign of fear that the events in Cairo could be replicated here.

“They are using force in Sanaa and Taiz against people, and this is what ended up toppling the governments in Tunisia and Egypt because it makes the people very angry,” says activist Mohamed Mohsin, who has suffered blows from people he says are plain-clothed police twice in the past week.

“In Egypt they used to say that it is different form Tunisia, and that’s why revolution couldn’t happen," he adds. "And now here they are saying the same thing. It is using force against the people that took these systems down.”

However, Abdelraham Maazab a parliamentarian from the ruling party says that reports of clashes between anti and pro-government in the past week have been inflated in an attempt to create momentum for an Egypt-like uprising.

“These clashes are very limited. If there were actual clashes on the streets of Yemen they would be very big,” says Mr. Maazab, alluding to the common idea that violence in Yemen escalates very quickly. “[The opposition] just wants to step up the problems in Yemen and it will keep doing so until it becomes like the Egypt situation.”

Yemen's Tahrir SquareAlready, thousands of tribesmen from pro-Saleh areas outside the capital have set up a base camp in Sanaa’s main Tahrir Square, which shares the same name as Cairo’s main square where protesters gathered day and night until Mubarak fell.

Each morning they hold political rallies, play patriotic songs loudly on microphones, and march around the square, which is being guarded by police chanting that by their soul and their blood they will support the current regime.

Pro-government men say that their presence in the square – where Yemen’s government announced a book fair is being held – is all part of political participation in any healthy democracy. Antigovernment protesters insist that these men have been paid by officials to stay in Tahrir Square, a claim that derives some support from the fact that police were handing out lunch to the crowds one afternoon.

“In Tahrir they give them 2,000 [Yemeni rials, or $9] a day and give them qat,” says activist Mohsin, referring to the mild narcotic that is wildly popular among Yemeni men.

Omar al-Masnah, a pro-government protester who was standing in front of Sanaa University on Tuesday morning in order to prevent antigovernment protesters from gathering, denied allegations that he was being directed by a higher command to show publicly display his support for the regime.

“I swear this is from my heart," says the business student. "Saleh fixed the problems in Yemen between tribes."

However, Albukari of the Yemen Polling Center says that the support for Saleh that is ostentatiously being displayed around the streets of Sanaa during the past week is not representative of how the majority of Yemenis feel.

Just two days ago, the 70-year-old leader met with tribal leaders from neighboring Amran province who “reiterated their commitment to stand in the way of all preachers of sedition, sabotage, and chaos and to defend the homeland and its stability, unity, and democratic approach,” according to Yemen’s official news agency.

“The president wants to make sure that the tribes surrounding Sanaa are more loyal to the Saleh regime,” says Hafez Albukari, president the Yemen Polling Center, a local independent NGO. Mr. Albukari says Saleh doesn't want any competitors.

Countries in the Middle East where the 'winds of change' are blowing

View the original article here

Anti-government protests spread to Libya (AP)

TRIPOLI, Libya – Hundreds of Libyan protesters took to the streets Wednesday in the country's second largest city to demand the government's ouster in the first sign that the region's unrest has spread to the Arab nation in North Africa.

Witnesses say protesters in the port city of Benghazi chanted slogans demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Baghdadi al-Mahmoudi. The crowds, however, did not appear to direct their anger at Moammar Gadhafi, who has ruled the nation for more than 40 years.

As in the uprisings that toppled longtime autocratic rulers in Egypt and Tunisia — on opposite sides of Libya — Libyan activists are using social networking websites like Facebook to call for a day of protests on Thursday.

Libya's official news agency did not carry any word of Wednesday's anti-government protests. It reported only that supporters of Gadhafi were demonstrating in the capital, Tripoli, and in Benghazi and other cities.

On Monday, several opposition groups in exile called for the overthrow of Gadhafi and for a peaceful transition of power in Libya.

"Col. Gadhafi and all his family members should relinquish powers," the groups said in a statement.

Gadhafi came to power 1969 through a military coup and since then he has been ruling the country with no parliament or constitution. Although Gadhafi claims he is only a revolutionary leader with no official status, he holds absolute power.

The opposition groups say that in practice he has direct control of the country's politics and its military and security forces.

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