Perilous
Times
Hundreds of thousands protest across Arab world
By BEN HUBBARD and KARIN LAUB
The Associated Press
Friday, February 25, 2011; 3:44 PM
CAIRO -- Hundreds of thousands poured out of mosques and staged
protests across the Arab world Friday, some trying to shake off
autocratic rulers and others pressuring embattled leaders to carry
out sweeping reforms.
In the Libyan capital of Tripoli, protesters reported coming under
a hail of bullets and said they saw at least seven people killed.
In Iraq, troops opened fire in several cities to push back crowds
marching on government offices, killing at least 12. Scuffles were
reported in Yemen, while pro-reform marches in Egypt, Bahrain and
Jordan were largely peaceful.
The large crowds signaled that the push for change in North Africa
and the Middle East continues to build momentum. The first
anti-government protests erupted several weeks ago, toppling
rulers in Tunisia and Egypt and quickly spreading to other
countries.
The situation remained most volatile in Libya, where longtime
leader Moammar Gadhafi has cracked down hard on an 11-day-old
rebellion after losing control over large chunks of the country.
In Tripoli, where Gadhafi remains in charge, protesters staged the
first significant anti-government rallies in several days, trying
to march from several districts to the central Green Square.
Protesters said they came under fire from pro-Gadhafi militias.
One man among a crowd of thousands said gunmen on rooftops and in
the streets opened fire with automatic weapons and even an
anti-aircraft gun. "In the first wave of fire, seven people within
10 meters (yards) of me were killed. Many people were shot in the
head," the man, who was marching from Tripoli's eastern Tajoura
district, told The Associated Press. "It was really like we are
dogs."
Across cities that have come under control of the rebels, tens of
thousands held rallies to support their comrades in Tripoli.
Iraq saw its biggest and most violent anti-government protests
since the wave of regional unrest began. Thousands marched on
government buildings and clashed with security forces in several
cities, an outpouring of anger that left 12 people dead.
The protests were fueled by frustration over corruption, chronic
unemployment and shoddy public services.
"We want a good life like human beings, not like animals," said
Khalil Ibrahim, 44, one of about 3,000 protesters in the capital,
Baghdad. Demonstrators knocked down blast walls, threw rocks and
scuffled with club-wielding troops who chased them down the
street.
Many Iraqis rail against a government that locks itself in the
highly fortified Green Zone, home to the parliament and the U.S.
Embassy, and is viewed by most of its citizens as more interested
in personal gain than public service.
Iraq's deadliest clashes Friday were reported in the northern city
of Mosul, where hundreds rallying outside a provincial council
building came under fire from guards. Officials said five people
were killed. The other deaths were reported in four other cities.
Huge crowds also turned out in Egypt, Bahrain and Yemen, but with
very different goals.
In Egypt, where an 18-day uprising toppled President Hosni Mubarak
on Feb. 11, tens of thousands jammed Cairo's Tahrir Square to keep
up the pressure on the country's military rulers to carry out
reforms.
Demonstrators said they are worried the army is not moving quickly
enough on reforms, including repealing emergency laws, releasing
political prisoners and removing members of Mubarak's regime from
power.
Thousands chanted that they won't leave until they see Prime
Minister Ahmed Shafiq, one of the Mubarak-era holdovers, removed
from office. Some waved flags of Libya to show support for the
uprising next door.
"We made Mubarak step down and we must make Shafiq also step
down," said Safwat Hegazy, a protester from the Muslim
Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and best-organized opposition group.
Since Mubarak's fall, the military rulers have disbanded both
houses of parliament and promised constitutional reforms that will
allow wider participation in elections, to be held within six
months. They have also promised to repeal emergency laws that give
security forces largely unchecked powers, though only when
conditions permit - a caveat that worries protesters.
In Bahrain, the first Gulf state to be thrown into turmoil by the
Arab world's wave of change, tens of thousands rallying in the
central square demanded sweeping political concessions from the
ruling monarch.
Security forces made no attempt to halt the marchers, an apparent
sign that Bahrain's rulers do not want more bloodshed
denunciations from their Western allies. In the early stage of the
two-week-old rallies, troops had used lethal force.
The unrest is highly significant for Washington. Bahrain is home
to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which is the Pentagon's main
counterweight against Iran's widening military ambitions.
Bahrain's Sunni monarchy, meanwhile, is under pressure from Saudi
Arabia and other Gulf rulers not to yield to the Shiite-led
protesters, fearing it could open footholds for Shiite powerhouse
Iran.
In the Arab world's poorest country, Yemen, tens of thousands
marching in the capital of Sanaa demanded that their U.S.-backed
president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, step down. It was one of the
largest crowds since protests erupted earlier this month.
A Muslim preacher who led Friday's prayer told protesters it was
their religious duty to topple Saleh, describing him as a "devil
who has driven us to the stone ages." Shouts from the crowd of
"Allahu akbar," or "God is great," accompanied his words.
"We are coming to take you from the presidential palace," activist
Tawakul Kermal told the gathering, addressing Saleh.
Yemen has a weak central government and an active branch of
al-Qaida. Saleh has promised to step down after elections in 2013,
but the demonstrators want him out now. Activists have been
digging in, setting up encampments in some public areas.
A record crowd turned out Friday in Jordan, where Jordan's largest
opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, has warned that
citizens' patience is wearing thin with the government's "slow"
moves toward reform.
Hamza Mansour, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, called for
quicker steps to give Jordanians a bigger say in politics and to
have them elect their prime minister - now selected by King
Abdullah II. Mansour spoke to 4,000 Jordanian protesters, the
largest crowd yet to take to the streets of downtown Amman for the
pro-reform cause.
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Associated Press writers Paul Schemm in Benghazi, Libya, Ahmed
al-Haj in Sanaa, Yemen, Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, and Adam
Schreck in Manama, Bahrain, contributed reporting.