Police Attack Protesters in Iran, Bahrain as Unrest Spreads

Thousands of Iranian government protesters chanting "Death to the dictator!" clashed with police in Tehran today as the Islamic regime kept two main opposition leaders under house arrest.

Police, many on motorbikes, used tear gas and fired paintball guns on protesters at Tehran University as unrest spread through the Middle East following the toppling of leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

In Bahrain, riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets on protesters near the capital, Manama, taking part in today's "Day of Rage."

In Yemen, hundreds of government supporters threw broken bottles, daggers and rocks at protesters.

France urged its former colony Algeria to allow peaceful anti-government protests, one day after massive Algerian security forces prevented an estimated 2,000 demonstrators from marching in Algiers, Agence France-Presse reported.

Iranian officials, mindful of the astonishing success protesters have had in ousting the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt, reportedly cut the phone lines of opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi and blocked off his house from the outside world.

Thousands marched peacefully along Revolution Avenue, some shouting their support for Mousavi.

Today's protests in Tehran were nominally in support of Egypt, but the government is worried it could evolve into a challenge of the ruling Islamic regime.

Mousavi and fellow opposition leader Mahdi Karroubi have be under house arrest since last week. Iran was able to stamp out the last big protest in 2009, but in light of recent events in the Middle East, governments are not taking any chances.

"We support you Mousavi," some of the demonstrators chanted.

"An Iranian dies but doesn't accept humiliation" and "Death to the dictator," they chanted, referring to hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, The Associated Press reported.

In Bahrain, where a Sunni Muslim family rules over a Shiite majority, officials have adopted a different strategy from Iran in trying to stave off unrest. Shiites in the tiny, but strategically located, island off Saudi Arabia want more jobs and more freedom. They feel excluded from government employment and believe their standard of living is lower than Sunnis'.

King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has promised to give families about $2,650 each and has vowed to release minors arrested in a security crackdown last year.

However, those tactics didn't prevent today's "Day of Rage" during which at least 20 people were hurt in village clashes just outside Manama.

"We don't want to overthrow the ruling family, we just want to have our say," Ali Jassem, married to a daughter of Sheikh Issa Qassem, a powerful Shiite cleric, told Reuters.

A group calling itself "the Revolution of 14th February in Bahrain" used Facebook to organize today's protests, Bloomberg reported.

In Yemen, thousands of protesters, many of them students, marched in Sanaa for the second straight day, demanding the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The estimated 3,000 protesters were prevented from marching from Sanaa University to the city center, where Saleh's supporters have camped out, because of razor fencing erected by security forces.