February 25, 2011
CAIRO — Opposition movements across the Middle East called for huge demonstrations on Friday to protest corruption and unaccountability in the governments that rule them and to express solidarity with the uprising in Libya that Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi is trying to suppress with force.
In Baghdad, defying attempts by Iraq’s government to curtail a day of nationwide protests, thousands of Iraqis took to the streets on Friday. Most of the gatherings around the country appeared to proceed peacefully, though were reports of sporadic violence in the Sunni Muslim areas north of Baghdad, where Iraqi Army troops opened fire, wounding five protesters. It was unclear what provoked the shooting.
In a nationally televised address on Thursday night, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had tried to convince Iraqis to call off the protests, saying that loyalists of Saddam Hussein were behind them, and that insurgents would try to exploit them to sow unrest. He banned vehicles from Baghdad streets as a security precaution.
“They are attempting to crack down on everything you have achieved, all the democratic gains, the free elections, the peaceful exchanges of power and freedom,” he said. “So I call on you, from a place of compassion, to thwart the enemy plans by not participating in the demonstrations tomorrow, because it’s suspicious and it will give rise to the voice of those who destroyed Iraq.”
In Egypt, tens of thousands of people were expected to turn out in Tahrir Square in central Cairo to mark the one-month anniversary of the start of the popular revolution. On Feb. 11, Hosni Mubarak resigned as president , leading to the imposition of military rule and an interim cabinet.
Calling it the “Friday of Cleansing,” the coalition of youth groups that spearheaded the uprising said that they would call for resignation of the prime minister and other cabinet members who remain in place from Mr. Mubarak’s government, and underscore the need to move quickly toward a new Constitution, the dismantling of the state’s repressive security apparatus, and true multiparty elections.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement that was banned for decades but is playing an active role in politics here, also pledged to hold protests in Cairo and across the country with similar demands.
Large protests were also planned in Yemen. After an escalation in violence between supporters and opponents of the Yemeni government in Sana, the capital, President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose hold on power has grown increasingly fragile, instructed security forces on Wednesday to protect demonstrators and thwart clashes between the two sides.
In Sana, tens of thousands of people were pouring into a square near the main gates of Sana University to call for the resignation of the president amid a tight security presence, The Associated Press reported.
In the morning, tens of thousands of people gathered to listen to Islamic preaching on the subject of freedom in the city of Taiz, 130 miles south of the capital, where antigovernment protesters and supporters of the regime clashed last week. On Tuesday night, two protesters were shot dead by government supporters during a sit-in in front of Sana University. At least 10 others were injured.
In Bahrain, religious leaders have for the first time called for people to take to the streets, which could change the dynamic. More than 100,000 demonstrators packed central Pearl Square on Tuesday in what organizers called the largest pro-democracy demonstration this tiny Persian Gulf nation had ever seen, as the monarchy struggled to hold on to power.
Yet the eyes of the region were on Libya, where the government has been waging a brutal crackdown against protesters, whose efforts over the past week have developed into a full-scale rebellion. Much of the east of the country is now in the hands of antigovernment rebels and clashes continue in the west. In Tripoli, which is under the control of mercenaries and militias as Col. Qaddafi’s attempts to preserve the capital, protesters pledged to brave threats of violence to take to the streets.
Opposition leaders had also pledged to march to Tripoli from other cities, though the roads were reported to be thick with checkpoints and heavily armed forces that remain loyal to Col. Qaddafi’s 40-year rule.
“They are attempting to crack down on everything you have achieved, all the democratic gains, the free elections, the peaceful exchanges of power and freedom,” he said. “So I call on you, from a place of compassion, to thwart the enemy plans by not participating in the demonstrations tomorrow, because it’s suspicious and it will give rise to the voice of those who destroyed Iraq.”
In Egypt, tens of thousands of people were expected to turn out in Tahrir Square in central Cairo to mark the one-month anniversary of the start of the popular revolution. On Feb. 11, Hosni Mubarak resigned as president , leading to the imposition of military rule and an interim cabinet.
Calling it the “Friday of Cleansing,” the coalition of youth groups that spearheaded the uprising said that they would call for resignation of the prime minister and other cabinet members who remain in place from Mr. Mubarak’s government, and underscore the need to move quickly toward a new Constitution, the dismantling of the state’s repressive security apparatus, and true multiparty elections.
The Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement that was banned for decades but is playing an active role in politics here, also pledged to hold protests in Cairo and across the country with similar demands.
Large protests were also planned in Yemen. After an escalation in violence between supporters and opponents of the Yemeni government in Sana, the capital, President Ali Abdullah Saleh, whose hold on power has grown increasingly fragile, instructed security forces on Wednesday to protect demonstrators and thwart clashes between the two sides.
In Sana, tens of thousands of people were pouring into a square near the main gates of Sana University to call for the resignation of the president amid a tight security presence, The Associated Press reported.
In the morning, tens of thousands of people gathered to listen to Islamic preaching on the subject of freedom in the city of Taiz, 130 miles south of the capital, where antigovernment protesters and supporters of the regime clashed last week. On Tuesday night, two protesters were shot dead by government supporters during a sit-in in front of Sana University. At least 10 others were injured.
In Bahrain, religious leaders have for the first time called for people to take to the streets, which could change the dynamic. More than 100,000 demonstrators packed central Pearl Square on Tuesday in what organizers called the largest pro-democracy demonstration this tiny Persian Gulf nation had ever seen, as the monarchy struggled to hold on to power.
Yet the eyes of the region were on Libya, where the government has been waging a brutal crackdown against protesters, whose efforts over the past week have developed into a full-scale rebellion. Much of the east of the country is now in the hands of antigovernment rebels and clashes continue in the west. In Tripoli, which is under the control of mercenaries and militias as Col. Qaddafi’s attempts to preserve the capital, protesters pledged to brave threats of violence to take to the streets.
Opposition leaders had also pledged to march to Tripoli from other cities, though the roads were reported to be thick with checkpoints and heavily armed forces that remain loyal to Col. Qaddafi’s 40-year rule.