In Oman, protests spur timid media to cover the news (The Christian Science Monitor)

Muscat, Oman – The fact that Oman's first civil unrest in 40 years left at least one person dead in a northern port city here was big news. But it was even bigger news that the English-language Muscat Daily declared “Black Sunday in Sohar” on its front page and carried a half-page photograph showing smoke filling the sky above a roundabout seized by protesters.

For a reserved, conservative country, where media self-censorship is routine and culture dictates that people keep their opinions to themselves, such coverage shows how quickly change is coming to this small Gulf nation.

“I think the fact that we were able to bring out a newspaper with a front-page coverage of the situation in Sohar on Monday is ample proof that Oman is a mature country and everyone here understands that the violence was a random act by hooligans who do not represent what Omanis really believe in,” says Mohana Prabhakar, managing editor of the Muscat Daily, which launched in 2009. “The authorities understand that people need to know what’s happening from a credible source.”

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Press laws in this sleepy sultanate on the Arabian peninsula generally do not prohibit coverage of the government, although people are not allowed to write about or insult the royal family. Still Oman's newspapers typically do not cover stories that might offend the government. In fact, journalists in this country of 2.8 million often express frustration over their inability to break real news and provide accountable reporting of the monarchy.

Sound off: What makes Oman different from other Arab world protests

But in the past few days, nearly all of the major dailies in Oman have reported on the unrest, the state-run TV station has broadcast special programs on the demonstrations, and at least one radio station in the capital broadcast a call-in show where people shared their opinions about what Omanis need. The Oman News Agency also released reports about the demonstrations, sending text messages to some mobile phones with updates.

'Now, there is fun'The atmosphere of increased freedom is exhilarating for journalists who have long labored under self-censorship, as well as students aspiring to a career in journalism.

“Really, I am surprised,” says an editor at another English-language daily in Muscat, who says that for the first time in six years he is excited about being a journalist in Oman. “Now, there is fun. Even though the incidents are not good, at least we are now able to do true journalism up to an extent.”

Still, he says, he is nervous, which is why he didn't want his name or his publication's name to be used.

“Even though I am not writing anything against the nation, and I am just doing my job sincerely, I am worried that I may drag unnecessary attention from the authorities,” says the man, who is from India.

'Where is Al Jazeera?'A peaceful protest that began as a sit-in this weekend at the main roundabout to this port city turned violent by Sunday, the start of the work week here, with several hundred protesters hurling rocks at riot police. The police responded with some bombs and canisters of gas.

Many ran away from the sound and then edged back toward the roundabout. They wanted to know where the media were. “Where is Al Jazeera? Where is BBC. We want Al Jazeera,â€

“See this,” one protester told a Western journalist taking pictures. “This is like Qaddafi.”

This is the first time in four decades that Omanis have seen this level of anger and rioting.

Oman's leader, Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said, issued a number of royal decrees to appease the demonstrators, including the establishment of an independent authority for consumer protection and increasing housing allowances for government employees and some university students. The Sultan also made some changes to his cabinet, and announced unemployment wages and 50,000 new jobs.

'I hope the truth will come out'In Sohar, the scene of the worst violence, the editor of a student magazine at Sohar University says even it will carry coverage of the events.

Kawkab Al Balushi, who will graduate this year, says the Sohar Horizon hasn't carried coverage yet but will have an article in its next issue.

“I hope the truth will come out by that time about who is actually responsible for the fire which started in many places,” says Mr. Balushi. “People in Sohar denied having anything to do with those protesters. I believe that and I know that Omanis won't destroy their own country, as we all love Oman and love His Majesty.”

Balushi says the TV coverage reflects how “unexpected and unprecedented” any public display of discontent is in Oman.

“I hope this issue gets over soon,” he says. “Oman is well known of its peace and security. We want that back.”

'I am not going to be a fashion reporter'Mass communications students at Sultan Qaboos University in the Omani capital said they were excited for the first time about their future careers as journalists.

One student who has been studying for three years and will graduate this spring says she has never reported before she began interviewing people about the unrest for a special project. Her mother tried to stop her, she says. “But I told her, I am not going to be a fashion reporter,” she recounts. “Why did you let me study media if you didn't want me to do this?”

Obaid Said, a mass communications professor, says many reporters and news organizations in Oman practiced self-censorship.

“Self censorship was prevalent and was accompanied by narrow understanding of the space of freedom guaranteed by the laws in the country on one hand and lack of professionalism on the other,” he says. “It will open their eyes to the importance of reporting local issues in order to regain and maintain their credibility. I think it will last because changes are [sweeping] many aspects, including media.”

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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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Unrest spreads to Libyan capital as Arab protests simmer (Reuters)

TRIPOLI/MANAMA (Reuters) – Violent unrest against Libya's Muammar Gaddafi spread to the capital Tripoli on Sunday and his son vowed to fight until the "last man standing" after scores of protesters were killed in the east of the country.
Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam said in an address on state TV the army stood behind his father as a "leader of the battle in Tripoli" and would enforce security at any price. His comments were the first official reaction from the Libyan authorities since the unrest began.
As he spoke, police used tear gas to disperse thousands of protesters in Tripoli, where gunfire was heard, vehicles were on fire and protesters threw stones at billboards of Gaddafi, who is facing the most serious challenge to his four-decade rule.
Revolutions which deposed the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt have shaken the Arab world and inspired protests across the Middle East and North Africa, threatening the grip of long-entrenched autocratic leaders.
In the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, thousands of protesters gathered in a square in Manama, calling for political change and awaiting promised talks with the island's Sunni rulers.
After days of violence, the mood among the mainly Shi'ite protesters appeared to be more conciliatory.
Libya, however was witnessing the bloodiest episodes yet in two months of unrest convulsing the Arab world.
A resident in Tripoli told Reuters by telephone he could hear gunshots. "We're inside the house and the lights are out. There are gunshots in the street," he said. "That's what I hear, gunshots and people. I can't go outside."
An expatriate worker said: "Some anti-government demonstrators are gathering in the residential complexes. The police are dispersing them. I can also see burning cars."
Al Jazeera television said thousands of protesters clashed with supporters of Gaddafi in Tripoli's Green Square.
The violence spread to Tripoli after days of protests in Benghazi, Libya's second largest city, in which at least 233 people have been killed, according to Human Rights Watch.
Communications are tightly controlled and Benghazi is not accessible to international journalists, but the picture that has emerged is of a city slipping from the grasp of security forces in the biggest challenge to Gaddafi's rule since the "brotherly leader" seized power in a 1969 military coup.
Habib al-Obaidi, head of the intensive care unit at the main Al-Jalae hospital in Benghazi, said the bodies of 50 people, mostly killed by gunshots, had been brought there on Sunday afternoon. The deaths came after scores were killed on Saturday.
Two hundred people had arrived wounded, 100 of them in serious condition, he said.
Members of an army unit known as the "Thunderbolt" squad had come to the hospital carrying wounded comrades, he said. The soldiers said they had defected to the cause of the hundreds of thousands of protesters in the streets and had fought and defeated Gaddafi's elite guards.
"They are now saying that they have overpowered the Praetorian Guard and that they have joined the people's revolt," another man at the hospital who heard the soldiers, lawyer Mohamed al-Mana, told Reuters by telephone.
A Libyan tribal leader threatened to block oil exports to the West within 24 hours if the government does not stop the "oppression of protesters." Another tribal chief told al Jazeera Gaddafi had to leave the country.
GADDAFI'S SON PROMISES REFORM
Saif al-Islam, who has in the past pushed a reform agenda in Libya with only limited success, said the protests threatened to sink Libya into civil war and split the country.
He said reports of hundreds killed were an exaggeration, but acknowledged the police and army made mistakes in dealing with the protests.
The General People's Congress, Libya's equivalent of a parliament, would convene on Monday to discuss a "clear" reform agenda, while the government would also raise wages, in an apparent attempt to address some of the protesters' demands, he said.
The clamour for reform across a region of huge strategic importance to the West and the source of much of its oil began in Tunisia in December. The overthrow of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali then inspired Egyptians to rise up against strongman Hosni Mubarak, overthrowing him on February 11.
The tide has challenged Arab leaders, including many who have long been backed by the West as vital energy suppliers and enemies of Islamist militants. While each uprising has its own dynamics, from religion to tribalism, all protesters seem united by frustration over economic hardship and a lack of political freedom under entrenched elites.
Unrest also hit Yemen, Tunisia, Morocco, Oman, Kuwait, Algeria and Djibouti over the weekend as people took to the streets demanding political and economic change.
In Iran, thousands of security personnel deployed in the streets of Tehran and other cities to prevent protesters rallying in spite of a ban, opposition websites said.
U.S. SAYS GRAVELY CONCERNED
The United States said it was "gravely concerned" by the situation in Libya and warned its citizens to delay trips there.
In Bahrain, the main opposition party said it wanted the crown prince to show signs of addressing opposition demands before any formal dialogue could start.
Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, of the ruling Sunni Muslim dynasty, made conciliatory moves after days of violence in which at least six people died.
"All political parties in the country deserve a voice at the table," he told CNN. "I think there is a lot of anger, a lot of sadness...We are terribly sorry and this is a terrible tragedy for our nation," said the prince, who is seen as a reformist.
Ibrahim Mattar, a lawmaker of the main opposition Wefaq party, said protesters, thousands of whom were camping out in Pearl square, wanted more than words.
"We are waiting for an initiative from him, with a scope for dialogue," he said, adding that the prince should "send a small signal he is willing to have a constitutional monarchy."
Shi'ites, who make up 70 percent of the population, complain of unfair treatment in Bahrain, an ally of the United States, whose Fifth Fleet is based there.
The opposition is demanding a constitutional monarchy that gives citizens a greater role in a directly elected government. It also wants the release of political prisoners.
Speculation was growing that Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, in office since independence from Britain in 1971, would be replaced by the crown prince.
In Tunisia on Sunday, security forces fired into the air as tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered downtown to call for the replacement of the interim government -- a sign that problems are not all swept away with the removal of a dictator.
In Yemen, shots were fired at a demonstration in the capital Sanaa on the ninth consecutive day of unrest. Thousands were demanding the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who called for dialogue with the opposition.
But the coalition of main opposition parties said there could be no dialogue with "bullets and sticks and thuggery," or with a government "which gathers mercenaries to occupy public squares ... and terrorise people."
At least 2,000 protesters gathered in a square in Morocco's capital on Sunday to demand King Mohammed give up some powers.
(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Writing by Diana Abdallah; Editing by Matthew Jones)
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Yemen separatist leader held, two die after protests (Reuters)

By Mohammed Mukhashaf and Mohammed Ghobari Mohammed Mukhashaf And Mohammed Ghobari – Sun Feb 20, 6:19 pm ET
ADEN/SANAA (Reuters) – The leader of Yemen's secessionist Southern Movement was arrested and shots were fired on the ninth day of demonstrations in the capital Sanaa on Sunday.
A male protester and a young girl died in a hospital in the southern city of Aden, after being wounded, apparently by stray bullets, during protests on Saturday in a nearby town, a doctor told Reuters. Their deaths brought the toll from the past two days to seven.
Thousands of people staged sit-ins in the cities of Ibb and Taiz, as well as in two districts of Aden, to demand the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who renewed an offer of dialogue to opposition parties.
Saleh, a U.S. ally battling a resurgent al Qaeda wing based in Yemen, has held power for 32 years in the poor Arabian Peninsula state, which faces soaring unemployment, dwindling oil and water reserves, and chronic unrest in northern and southern provinces.
Security in Aden was stepped up on Sunday, with tanks and armored vehicles out on main streets.
Hasan Baoum, head of the secessionist Southern Movement, was arrested by an "armed military group" in an Aden hospital where he was being treated, his son Fadi Hasan Baoum told Reuters.
Baoum was also arrested in November last year, accused of planning illegal demonstrations.
CALL FOR DIALOGUE
Saleh renewed his call for dialogue with opposition parties and blamed the latest protests on "elements outside the system and the law."
"Dialogue is the best way. Not sabotage. Not blocking the roads," he told tribal, military and civil leaders in Sanaa.
But the coalition of main opposition parties, including the Islamist Islah and the secular Socialist Party, said there could be no dialogue with "bullets and sticks and thuggery," or with a government "which gathers mercenaries to ... terrorize people."
Around 50 government supporters tried to break up a demonstration outside Sanaa University by 1,000 protesters.
A Saleh supporter fired shots from an assault rifle but there were no reported casualties and the government supporters soon dispersed, while the protesters chanted, "Leave, Ali!"
Both sides fired weapons on Saturday outside the university -- the first reported use of firearms by demonstrators. Several protesters were hurt in those clashes.
PROTESTS AND SIT-INS
Protests have taken place across Yemen, a country of 23 million which borders the world's top oil exporter Saudi Arabia.
In the southern city of Ibb, around 1,000 protesters set up camp in Freedom Square waving banners which read "Leave" and "The people want the fall of the regime," witnesses said.
In Taiz, thousands continued a sit-in for a ninth day. Hundreds launched new sit-ins in the Mansoura and Crater districts of Aden.
Twelve Yemeni human rights groups demanded in a statement that security officials in Aden, Sanaa and Taiz be put on trials over attacks on protesters.
On Saturday, Saleh blamed a "foreign agenda" and a "conspiracy against Yemen, its security and stability" for the protests against poverty, unemployment and corruption which have gained momentum since the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
Saleh is facing an al Qaeda branch that has launched attacks at home and abroad. He is also confronted by a separatist revolt in the south and trying to maintain a shaky truce with Shi'ite Muslim rebels in the north.
(Additional reporting Mohamed Sudam; writing by Jason Benham, Dominic Evans and Firouz Sedarat; editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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Wisconsin persists on cuts, protests swell (Reuters)

MADISON, Wisconsin (Reuters) – Wisconsin's Republican governor vowed on Friday to press ahead with legislation to curb the union bargaining rights of public employees as part of a deficit-cutting plan even as protests against the measure swelled.

Speaking at a news conference on the fifth consecutive day of demonstrations against the proposal, Governor Scott Walker said the state is broke and cannot pay its bills unless the plan is approved.

"I told the voters what I would do to get Wisconsin working again," Walker said of his election in 2010. "We are going to do what it takes to get this budget on track."

Republicans have majorities in both the state Senate and the Assembly. In a bid to scuttle the proposal, Senate Democrats fled the state on Thursday and Friday to deprive the Senate of the needed quorum for a vote.

The lawmakers apparently left the state because they were concerned that they would be compelled to return to the Capitol by police if they stayed in Wisconsin.

Republicans have a quorum in the state Assembly and could pass the plan there over the weekend.

Police estimated that 35,000 protesters converged on the Capitol grounds in Madison on Friday, with another 5,000 demonstrators packed inside the building itself, said Carla Vigue, a spokeswoman with the Wisconsin Department of Administration.

On Thursday, a crowd estimated at 30,000 people protested inside and outside the Capitol building.

The protests have so far been peaceful and police said there were no incidents or arrests on Friday.

TEA PARTY

But the potential for confrontation emerged when the conservative Tea Party movement, which supports deep budget cuts, announced that it would hold a rally supporting the Republicans at the Capitol on Saturday.

Drew Ryun, the president of American Majority Action, one of the conservative groups planning Saturday's demonstration, said organizers were "meeting fire with fire."

"We have buses coming in from all over the state," Ryun said. "We see this as the opening salvo of the 2012 election season. The Tea Party movement facing off against the unions. And we like the odds."

Wisconsin is the flashpoint for a national struggle over efforts to roll back pay and union rights of state and local government workers. If the majority Republicans in Wisconsin prevail, other states could be emboldened to take on powerful public employee unions.

The Milwaukee Public School system, which serves 85,000 students in the state's largest city, canceled all classes on Friday after nearly 630 unionized teachers called in sick.

"Every day the crowds are bigger," said Jay Heck, the executive of Common Cause Wisconsin, a non-partisan advocacy group based in Madison, said of the union protests.

President Barack Obama sided with the demonstrators on Thursday, calling the governor's proposal an "assault on unions." U.S. House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner criticized Obama and said he backed fellow Republican Walker.

Walker's administration puts the deficit for the remainder of the current fiscal year at $137 million and for the next two fiscal years under its biannual budget at $3.3 billion.

Republicans want state workers to increase contributions to pensions to 5.8 percent of salary, and double contributions to health insurance premiums to 12.6 percent.

They also want to limit collective bargaining to the issue of wages, and cap increases to the rate of inflation, with a voter referendum needed for bigger increases.

Walker said the alternative is to layoff more than 10,000 workers.

Walker was to unveil his state budget proposal for the next two fiscal years on February 22, but on Friday his office said that speech would be put off until March 1.

U.S. state and local governments are struggling to balance budgets after the recession decimated their finances. Some states such as Wisconsin, Texas, Arizona and Ohio are relying mainly on cuts in spending to balance the books. Others such as Minnesota and Illinois are raising taxes.

(Additional reporting by Vickie Allen in Washington, Darren Hauck in Madison, John Rondy in Milwaukee and Andrew Stern, James Kelleher and Karen Pierog in Chicago; Editing By Greg McCune and Eric Beech)

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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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Iran opposition protests, agency reports shooting (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Thousands of Iranian opposition activists rallied in support of popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia on Monday and a semi-official news agency said one person was shot dead and several wounded by protesters.

An opposition website said dozens were arrested while taking part in the banned protests, which amounted to a test of strength for the reformist opposition in the Islamic state.

By late evening, chants of "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greatest) echoed from Tehran rooftops in scenes reminiscent of 2009 protests against the disputed reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Eight people were killed in those mass street demonstrations which lasted about a month and resulted in many arrests and several executions.

A witness said security forces fired teargas to scatter thousands marching toward a Tehran square on Monday. There were also clashes between police and demonstrators, and dozens of arrests, in the city of Isfahan, another witness told Reuters.

The semi-official Fars news agency cited violence on the part of protesters in a report that could herald a hard line by authorities clearly eager to head off any resurgent opposition.

"One person was shot dead and several were wounded by seditionists (opposition supporters) who staged a rally in Tehran," Fars said, without giving further details.

Some Tehran protesters chanted "Death to the dictator" during protests, which continued in some places into the evening. Other demonstrators marched in silence.

Some chants drew comparisons between the Iranian leadership and the autocrats deposed in recent weeks in Tunis and Cairo.

By late evening, the protests appeared to have eased off.

Amnesty International condemned the authorities' reaction.

"Iranians have a right to gather to peacefully express their support for the people of Egypt and Tunisia," it said.

Describing events, state television said: "Hypocrites, monarchists, thugs and seditionists who wanted to create public disorder in Iran were arrested by our brave nation ... These people set garbage bins on fire and damaged public property."

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has called the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia against secular, Western-allied rulers an "Islamic awakening," akin to the 1979 revolution that overthrew the U.S.-backed shah in Iran.

But the opposition see events in Tunisia and Egypt as resembling their own protests after the June 2009 election which they say was rigged in favor of President Ahmadinejad.

RIOT POLICE

Police in Bahrain, where tensions arise from discontent among a Shi'ite majority, fired teargas and rubber bullets to break up pro-reform demonstrations and witnesses said one protester was killed. Analysts say any large-scale unrest in Bahrain could embolden marginalized Shi'ites in nearby Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said of the action against Iranian protesters: "President Ahmadinejad ... told the Egyptian people that they had the right to express their own views about their country. I call on the Iranian authorities to allow their own people the same right."

Large numbers of police wearing riot gear and security forces were stationed around the main squares of the capital and pairs of state militiamen roamed the streets on motorbikes.

There were minor clashes at some points across the sprawling capital city of some 12 million people, witnesses said. Mobile telephone connections were down in the area of the protests.

Video posted on the Internet showed young men, some holding sticks, gathered around overturned garbage bins, some of which were on fire. The demonstrators marched toward Azadi (Freedom) Square, a traditional rallying point for protests. Hundreds of marchers also gathered in Isfahan and Shiraz, witnesses said.

Security forces surrounded the homes of opposition leaders Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi preventing them joining the march, their websites said.

Noting official Iranian backing for demonstrations in Egypt and Tunisia, Mousavi and Karroubi asked permission to hold their own marches in solidarity. But authorities refused, wary of a repeat of the protests in 2009, which saw the greatest unrest since the revolution of 30 years earlier.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul, on a visit to Tehran, called on Middle Eastern governments to listen to their people.

The Iranian authorities accuse opposition leaders of being part of a Western plot to overthrow the Islamic system.

(Editing by Ralph Boulton)

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