Protests Spread to Libya; More Demonstrations in Bahrain, Yemen

The wave of protests rippling across the Middle East and North Africa has reached Libya, where hundreds of people took to the streets of the country's second biggest city, Benghazi.

The demonstration was a rare sign of unrest in the North African country, which has been tightly controlled by dictator Moammar Gadhafi for four decades but has recently been shaken by the overthrow of regimes in neighboring Egypt and Tunisia.


State-run TV stations didn't cover the disturbance in Benghazi, noted Agence France-Presse, but instead broadcast footage of pro-regime demonstrations in the coastal city as well the capital Tripoli. Gadhafi supporters chanted slogans accusing Qatar-based TV network Al-Jazeera of broadcasting lies, Reuters reported.

The unrest in Benghazi appeared to have been triggered by the arrest of human rights activist Fethi Tarbel, who worked with families of inmates at Tripoli's notorious Abu Salim jail, Reuters said. The prison, which holds the regime's opponents, was the scene of a failed prison uprising in June 1996. According to Human Rights Watch, some 1,200 inmates were shot dead in the subsequent crackdown.

Libya's privately owned Quryna newspaper reported that a crowd gathered outside police headquarters in Benghazi following Tarbel's arrest, according to AFP. Security forces broke up the demonstration when protesters started chanting anti-government slogans such as "The people will end the corruption" and "The blood of the martyrs will not be in vain."

Witnesses told the BBC that protesters hurled stones at police, who in turn responded with tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets. Quryna, which is based in Benghazi, said 14 people were hurt in the clashes, including 10 police officers. It blamed the unrest on "saboteurs," but noted that Tarbel was subsequently released by authorities.

Reports of clashes in Libya come as thousands of protesters staged rallies for the third successive day in the Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. Hundreds of demonstrators today gathered at the funeral of protester Fadel al-Matrouk, who was shot dead Tuesday by police in the capital Manama. He was gunned down at the funeral of another demonstrator, Ali Msheymah, killed by police a day earlier.

Protesters in Bahrain -- where a Shiite Muslim majority has been ruled by a Sunni Muslim royal family since the 18th century -- are calling for an end to job and housing discrimination against Shiites and for a stronger and more democratic parliament. That will require the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, who has governed the country since it achieved independence in 1971.

So far, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, who is also the prime minister's nephew, has ignored these demands. He has tried to buy demonstrators' silence by ordering an increase in food subsidies and social welfare payments, and a grant of 1,000 dinars ($2,600) to each Bahraini family. And in a televised speech Tuesday, he expressed regret about the protesters' deaths, pledging that the shootings would be investigated.

Meanwhile, anti-government demonstrations continued for the fourth straight day in Yemen. At least four people were injured Wednesday as protesters clashed with police and supporters of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in the capital Sanaa, The Associated Press reported.

Demonstrators want Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years, to step down immediately. He has tried to placate protesters by promising not to run for another term when elections are held in 2013 and not to set up his son, Ahmed, as his successor.

However, demonstrators place little trust in the president, who is also a key U.S. ally in the battle against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the terror group's Yemeni wing. The movement's fighters have been connected to several attacks outside the country, including the failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day 2009.