Protests Expand Across Arab Nations

By HAKIM ALMASMARI, JOE PARKINSON and FARNAZ FASSIHI

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Associated Press

Yemeni government supporters, left, block the path of antigovernment protesters on Sunday demanding political reform and the president's resignation.

Protesters and security forces clashed in cities around the Middle East and North Africa over the weekend and Iran geared up for the first significant antigovernment demonstrations there in a year, as the popular revolt that forced out Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak threatened to spark a new round of uprisings in the region.

Inspired by Egypt, about a thousand Yemeni protesters take to the streets of Sanaa calling for regime change. Video courtesy of Reuters.

In recent weeks as protesters swarmed Egypt and Tunisia, where the longtime ruler also was toppled, scattered large-scale protests have flared elsewhere and other Arab leaders have scrambled to defuse unrest by offering political and economic concessions.

Many protest efforts had begun to dwindle. But Mr. Mubarak's Friday-night resignation appeared to boost momentum for opposition forces around the region and raise the stakes for regimes trying to head them off.

Yemen, Algeria, Bahrain and Jordan all were sites of new protests and clashes. The Palestinian Authority leadership in the West Bank ordered the dismissal of its cabinet, officials said Sunday, after calling new elections Saturday following Mr. Mubarak's departure.

In Iran, despite pre-emptive crackdowns and warnings by the government, long-quiet political opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi—the latter under house arrest—issued a statement Sunday supporting a protest that already had the backing of labor unions and student activist groups.

The opposition Green Movement—which sprung up after the contested presidential election in 2009—issued a map of protest routes in 35 cities. They also made available software for Iranians to be able to upload pictures and videos despite slow internet connections. A Facebook page for the protest had more than 52,000 people pledging support and attendance by Sunday. They were being asked to each call 10 people randomly and encourage them to join in.

Already on Sunday night in Tehran, residents were heard chanting "God is great" and "Death to the dictator," according to witnesses and videos posted on YouTube. Meanwhile, the government deployed antiriot police across main squares in Tehran, suggesting the potential for violence.

Yemeni demonstrations during the weekend came despite recent moves by the government and opposition leaders to tamp down tensions. The protests started as a small rally of mostly Egyptian expatriates who converged onto streets of the capital, San'a, Friday after the news of Mr. Mubarak's resignation.

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Associated Press

Yemeni anti-government protestors, right, scuffle with government supporters during a rally demanding political reform and the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2011. Several thousand protesters tried to reach the central square in the capital but were pushed back by police using clubs.

Numbers swelled to more than a thousand by the early hours of Saturday morning, according to eyewitnesses. The protesters clashed with pro-government demonstrators before security forces intervened and arrested several from both sides.

On Sunday, Yemeni protesters turned out again, clashing briefly with security forces and government supporters, according to eyewitnesses. Security officials weren't reachable to comment.

Opposition leaders agreed Sunday to restart long-stalled negotiations with President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who made a number of political concessions earlier this month, including a promise not to run again in 2013. Mr. Saleh canceled a trip to the U.S. later this month, Yemen's state news agency reported Sunday.

In the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, the Shiite opposition has seized on the wider regional unrest to press demands for reform from the kingdoms's Sunni Muslim rulers. Over the weekend the kingdom pledged to ease media restrictions, and promised each Bahraini family a special grant of about $2,650.

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On Sunday, security forces set up checkpoints at villages outside the capital, Manama, while police units patrolled shopping malls and other public areas. In the Shiite village of Karzakan,A few miles west, security forces dispersed with rubber bullets and tear gas a crowd of protesters who were marching toward a highway after a local wedding. Local men scrambled to carry one man, shot in the leg, away from the scene for treatment.

"The police wouldn't use the tear gas for nothing," said Nada Haffadh, a member of the Shura council, the appointed upper chamber of Bahrain's parliament. "Yes, we want people to ask for their rights, but it must be within the law."

Opposition groups bombarded social-networking sites with calls to stage a major protest Monday.

"People are really boiling, contempt is very high," said Abdul Jalil Khalil, a parliamentary leader from one of the largest Shiite opposition groups.

Two people were reported wounded Sunday in Jordan when gunshots were fired at a protest near the city of Mafraq, northeast of the capital, Amman. The Agence France-Presse news service reported around 3,000 demonstrators had blocked a road near a university campus. Jordan's U.S.

The protest, over allocation of lands to one of Jordan's powerful Bedouin tribes, came as Jordan's King Abdullah II met with U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen, who is in the region.

On Saturday, thousands of Algerians defied a government ban to flood a central square in Algiers and call for political reform. The government of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika deployed thousands of security forces, who used tear gas to disperse crowds called to the streets by a coalition of opposition leaders, trade unionists and human-rights activists.

Protesters shouted "Power Out," and "$155 billion, and we're still poor," a reference to the major oil-producing country's estimated foreign-exchange reserves.

Palestinian leaders in the West Bank said they would hold long-stalled parliamentary and presidential elections by September, after the reignation of Mr. Mubarak, the Palestine Liberation Organization's strongest regional supporter.

The Palestinian leadership has been put on the defensive by leaks about concessions it offered to Israel in peace talks that collapsed more than two years ago. Shaken by that setback, it appeared more vulnerable to the sort of popular protests sweeping the region.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat offered his resignation Saturday, taking responsibility for the leaks. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to ask Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to form a new Cabinet with higher representation for Mr. Abbas' Fatah movement.

Mahmoud Alul, a leading member of Fatah, said the call for elections is part of a strategic shift away from negotiations with Israel and toward a renewed campaign for international recognition of a de facto Palestinian state.