Cairo: Demonstrations held on Friday in Libya, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain on Friday against corruption government and rulers’ dictatorial attitude and for their basic rights while violence incidents happened in Libya and Yemen where 17 were killed and various others injured.
At least 15 people were killed and at least 200 wounded Friday in the Libyan city of Zawiya. State-run Libyan TV reported that forces supporting Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi had re-taken the city, which had been under the control of Gadhafi opponents.
Meanwhile, demonstrators and security forces clashed in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, on Friday in the latest of several confrontations that have convulsed the country and triggered an exodus of refugees.
In Cairo, Egypt’s new Prime Minister, Essam Sharaf, appeared before thousands of protesters at Cairo’s Tahrir Square on Friday, telling them he is “of the people” and would resign if he failed to meet their demands.
Sharaf, Egypt’s former transportation minister, was sworn in Friday after the resignation of Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister appointed by Hosni Mubarak.
In Yemen, security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters in northern Yemen on Friday morning, killing two people and injuring nine others, witnesses said.
The vast majority of the protesters were Houthi rebels, according to Mohammed Abdulsalam, a spokesman for the group.
Meanwhile, thousands of anti-government demonstrators in Sanaa called for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down as they continued to hold a sit-in demonstration outside Sanaa University. The crowd included students, women, tribesmen and members of the opposition. Thousands also continued to demonstrate against Saleh’s regime in the provinces of Taiz, Mareb and Jawf.
Yemen’s ruling party said it is continuing dialogue with the opposition but the opposition denied it. “We will not have any dialogue with the ruling party. Our only demand is that this regime leaves and then we can talk about dialogue,” said opposition bloc spokesman Mohammed Al-Qubati.
In Bahrain, thousands of anti-government demonstrators have gathered outside the headquarters of Bahrain’s state television as protests continue in the Gulf nation.
Friday’s demonstrations came a day after sectarian clashes between members of the country’s Sunni and Shia communities.
Demonstrators converged on the television building outside Manama, the capital, chanting slogans against the Sunni dynasty that has ruled the majority Shia population for more than 200 years.
Protesters, who have been demonstrating for nearly three weeks, claim widespread discrimination against Shias by the government and have demanded a greater voice in the nation’s affairs.
On Friday, a Bahraini Shia opposition leader called for Sunni-Shia harmony, following the street fighting on Thursday.
“I will consider any attack against anyone in this country as an attack against me,” Sheikh Ali Salman, the head of the Islamic National Accord Association (INAA), the main Shia political formation, told thousands of demonstrators marching on the King Faisal Corniche in Manama.
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