Unrest spreads across Arab world - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

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Unrest spreads across Arab world

Posted 22 minutes ago

Jubilant Bahrainis have reoccupied Pearl Square. (AFP : Joseph Eid )

• Video: Violence escalates in Bahrain protests (7pm TV News NSW)
• Related Story: Libyan regime hits back with deadly crackdown
• Related Story: Travellers warned as unrest racks Bahrain
• Related Story: Middle East rocked by deadly uprisings

Anti-government protests have once again flared across the Middle East in a wave of unrest that threatens to destabilise the entire region.

As calls for regime change grow louder across Bahrain, Libya, Algeria, Yemen and Djibouti, some leaders are calling for dialogue, while others have ordered brutal crackdowns.

In Libya, human rights groups say more than 80 people have been killed, with the army reportedly using snipers to break up the protests.

There are reports that one protester was shot and killed in Yemen, while riot police in Algeria have dispersed a crowd of hundreds with batons.

Thousands of jubilant Bahrainis have reoccupied a symbolic central square in the capital - the focal point of bloody anti-regime demonstrations - after earlier being beaten back by at least 100 riot police.

Crowds had approached Pearl Square in Manama from different directions, creating a standoff with riot police, before security forces withdrew in an apparently conciliatory move on orders from the crown prince.

Police were seen racing to their buses, which drove away mounting kerbs in their haste to escape.

"We don't fear death anymore, let the army come and kill us to show the world what kind of savages they are," said Umm Mohammed, a teacher wearing a black abaya cloak.

Troops and armoured vehicles had occupied the square since Thursday after riot police staged a night-time attack on sleeping protesters who had camped out there, killing four people and wounding 231.

Following the withdrawal, crowds in Pearl Square swelled into the tens of thousands, to celebrate what is being hailed as a triumph for the mostly Shiite protesters who took to the streets on Monday, inspired by popular revolts that toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

Bahrain's 70 per cent Shiite majority has long felt discriminated against in the Gulf Arab state that is ruled by a Sunni Muslim dynasty and is a close US and Saudi ally.

Shiites feel cut out of decision-making and complain of unfair treatment in access to state jobs and housing.

Libyan crackdown

Meanwhile, security forces in the Libyan city of Benghazi killed at least three people on Saturday but have withdrawn to a fortified compound, a witness said, after the worst unrest in embattled leader's Muammar Gaddafi's four decades in power.

Human Rights Watch said 84 people have been killed over the past three days in a fierce security crackdown mounted in response to anti-government protests that sought to emulate uprisings in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia.

A resident in Benghazi said security forces had killed dozens of protesters over the past 72 hours but were confined to a compound, which he called the Command Centre, from which snipers were firing at protesters.

"They shot dead three protesters from that building today," said the witness, who did not want to be identified.

"Right now, the only military presence in Benghazi is confined to the Command Centre complex in the city. The rest of the city is liberated.

"Thousands and thousands of people have gathered in front of Benghazi's court house. There are now makeshift clinics, ambulances, speakers, electricity. It's fully-equipped.

"There is no shortage of food although not all stores are open. Banks are shut. All of the revolutionary committee (local government) offices and police stations in the city have been burned."

The account could not be independently verified and foreign journalists have not been allowed to enter Libya since the unrest began. Local reporters have also been barred from travelling to Benghazi and mobile phone connections have been frequently cut.

A security source earlier gave a different account, saying the situation in the Benghazi region was "80 per cent under control".

The private Quryna newspaper, which is based in Benghazi and has been linked to one of Mr Gaddafi's sons, said security forces had opened fire to stop protesters attacking the police headquarters and a military base where weapons were stored.

"The guards were forced to use bullets," the paper said.

The government has not released any casualty figures or made any official comment on the violence.

In other parts of the region similar demonstrations have flared.

In Iraq 10 protesters were injured in clashes with Kurdish security forces in the latest violent rally, calling for officials to combat graft and improve basic services, after protests earlier in the week left two dead.

Authorities in Djibouti have detained three top opposition leaders the day after a rally to demand regime change erupted into violence that left two dead.

While in Kuwait, riot police used tear gas to disperse hundreds of stateless Arabs who demonstrated for a second day demanding basic rights and citizenship.

- Reuters

Tags: world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, algeria, bahrain, djibouti, iraq, kuwait, libya, tunisia, yemen

via abc.net.au