Protests sweep through cities
Hardliners argue execution for Iran opposition leaders
SANAA, Yemen – The continuing wave of unrest sweeping the Middle East led to a fifth day of protests Tuesday in Yemen while thousands of protesters swept into the main square of the capital of Bahrain, setting up tents and vowing to stay until the government agrees to major reforms.
In Iran, hardliners in parliament demanded that opposition leaders be executed for advocating protests that attracted tens of thousands of people.
As many as a thousand anti-government protesters marched through the streets of the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, but it was large numbers of supporters of President Ali Abdullah Saleh who appeared to have the upper hand, gathering in a downtown festival with music and nationalist slogans.
Young men in tribal dress milled around the entrances to the square bearing sharpened sticks and bludgeons. Pictures of the president, who has ruled Yemen for more than 30 years, suddenly proliferated on cars and buildings around the capital.
Yet despite a day of fewer clashes than before, Yemeni protesters vowed to press their street revolt until Saleh steps down.
“Years of trying to keep the Yemeni people in ignorance and poverty have failed,” said protester Jameel Awad, a 28-year-old taxi driver. “Tunisia and Egypt have shown us that nothing is impossible. The youth see that this is their time to claim the future … and we will not let the opportunity pass.”
In Bahrain, the death of a second protester, killed when police clashed with mourners at a funeral assembly for a demonstrator shot Friday, prompted more than 6,000 people to march into Pearl Square in the capital of Manama. Many declared their intention to remain until the government addresses longstanding grievances over political discrimination and police repression.
Protesters have said their chief demand is the resignation of the prime minister, Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, the king’s uncle and one of the wealthiest men in the country, who has held the post since Bahrain’s independence from British control in 1971.
By Tuesday night, protesters were setting up tents and sleeping bags and passing out food, water and tea in an echo of the 18-day occupation of Cairo’s Tahrir Square that led to the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Friday.
King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa in a televised speech said the deaths of the two protesters would be investigated.
“We extend our condolences to the parents of the dear sons who died yesterday and today. We pray that they are inspired by the Almighty’s patience, solace and tranquility,” the king said.
The protesters have included both Sunni and Shiite citizens, but one of their major grievances has been repression and discrimination of the country’s 70 percent Shiite majority by the Sunni monarchy and elite.