CAIRO, Feb 21 – Here are the latest developments in unrest sweeping the Middle East and North Africa following uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia that toppled their long-time rulers.
LIBYA: Protesters in the capital Tripoli sacked state broadcast offices and set branches of the People\’s Committees that are the mainstay of the regime ablaze overnight, witnesses told AFP.
BAHRAIN: Exiled opposition figure Hassan Mashaima told AFP he would return to Manama on Tuesday, as protesters gear up for a rally they hope will bring tens of thousands to the central Pearl Square.
YEMEN: President Ali Abdullah Saleh, in power since 1978, said only defeat at the ballot box will make him quit, as he faced growing calls to step down.
IRAQ: A teenage protester was killed in a rally in northern Iraq as lawmakers moved to head off further demonstrations by cutting their salaries and ramping up support for the needy.
KUWAIT: Hundreds of stateless Arabs demonstrated on Sunday for the third day running to press for basic rights and citizenship of the oil-rich Gulf state and Human Rights Watch called for the release of dozens detained on Friday.
MOROCCO: Thousands staged rallies in Moroccan cities on Sunday demanding political reform and limits on the powers of King Mohammed VI, the latest protests demanding change that have rocked the region.
IRAN: Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday called on Muslims to "remove" the United States from the Islamic world after a massive police deployment in Tehran prevented large-scale protests from erupting, although opposition websites reported stray clashes.
EGYPT: Three police officers in Alexandria face questioning over the shooting of protesters in the early days of the Egyptian uprising, as banks reopened on Sunday and workers at Egypt\’s largest factory ended a strike.
TUNISIA: Tunisia\’s interim government on Sunday asked Saudi Arabia to extradite deposed strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali as it faced a second day of protests on the streets of Tunis, demanding its resignation.
DJIBOUTI: Djibouti authorities have "provisionally released" three top opposition leaders briefly detained after unprecedented protests demanding regime change, the state prosecutor said Sunday.
JORDAN: Jordan\’s King Abdullah II on Sunday urged speedy reforms, comprehensive dialogue and more efforts to battle corruption amid popular discontent and pro-reform protests.
SYRIA: A jailed Syrian Kurdish blogger and rights activist, Kamal Hussein Sheikho, is on a hunger strike, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Sunday.
ALGERIA: Anti-government protests that toppled rulers in Tunisia and Egypt will not spread to Algeria as part of a "domino effect" across the region, Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said in an interview published Sunday.
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