Protests blow up in Yemen, ongoing in Egypt and Algeria and Tunisia

[the_future_modernes]

Ok, so this is why I conditionally like Globalpost. It has its issues god KNOWS but it puts together some kickass roundups on occasion. I've been too busy with school to properly pay attention to the full story of the protests that broke out in North Africa and some parts of Asia over the past couple of months. naturally, it turns out I missed some countries. So here's a primer on who is protesting and why. A region in upheaval

First it was Tunisia. Then it was Libya, Algeria, Jordan, Yemen, Albania, Lebanon and Egypt. Suddenly, civil unrest has erupted in countries, some of which have been under authoritarian rule for decades, all over the Middle East and North Africa.

What happened? And what does the future hold for this volatile region of the world? Here’s everything you need to know about the leaders, the protesters and the problems in each of the nations that have been gripped by protests over these last few weeks.MORE

There is gonna be a popup ad asking you to contribute. You should be able to click it off and read that entire article for free.


Meantime, for more indepth reporting starting with Yemen:

Yemen's protests seem to be directly influenced by Tunisia's.

Anti-government rallies hit Yemen

Tens of thousands of people in Yemen have taken to the streets in the country's capital, calling for an end to the government of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president.

Inspired by recent events in Tunisia and Egypt, opposition members and youth activists are rallying at four different locations in Sanaa on Thursday, chanting for Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years, to step down.

"Enough being in power for [over] 30 years," protesters shouted during the demonstrations.

They also referred to the ouster of Tunisian president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, saying he was "gone in just [over] 20 years".

"No to extending [presidential tenure]. No to bequeathing [the presidency]," they chanted.

An opposition activist said that the staging of the demonstration in four separate parts of the capital was aimed at distracting the security forces.


...

Motahar Rashad al-Masri, the Yemeni interior minister, ruled out any resemblance between the protests in Yemen and the public outcry in Tunisia and Egypt.

"Yemen is not like Tunisia," he said, adding that Yemen was a "democratic country" and that the demonstrations were peaceful.

He told Al Jazeera that Yemeni authorities will not curb any demonstrations that are peaceful, regardless of their size.MORE

The BBC adds more

Yemeni opposition members and youth activists gathered in four parts of the city, including Sanaa University, chanting anti-government slogans.

They also called for economic reforms and an end to corruption.

Yemenis complain of mounting poverty among a growing young population and frustration with a lack of political freedoms.

The country has also been plagued by a range of security issues, including a separatist movement in the south and an uprising of Shia Houthi rebels in the north.

...

President Saleh, a Western ally, became leader of North Yemen in 1978, and has ruled the Republic of Yemen since the north and south merged in 1990. He was last re-elected in 2006.

Yemenis are angry over parliament's attempts to loosen the rules on presidential term limits, sparking opposition concerns that Mr Saleh might try to appoint himself president for life.

Mr Saleh is also accused of wanting to hand power to his eldest son, Ahmed, who heads the elite presidential guard, but he has denied the accusations.

Economic and social problems

* Poorest country in the Middle East with 40% of Yemenis living on less than $2 (£1.25) a day
* More than two-thirds of the population under the age of 24
* Illiteracy stands at over 50%, unemployment at 35%
* Dwindling oil reserves and falling oil revenues; little inward investment
* Acute water shortage
* Weak central governmentMORE

Re: Tunisia, lets start with some history: How Tunisia's revolution begun

Sidi Bouazid, Tunisia - The people of Sidi Bouzid overcame heavy censorship and police repression to ensure that their uprising did not go unnoticed in silence.

Protesters took to the streets with "a rock in one hand, a cell phone in the other," according to Rochdi Horchani - a relative of Mohamed Bouazizi - who helped break through the media blackout.

Since the same day of the self-immolation of the 26-year-old street vendor that triggered riots causing the Tunisian leadership to flee the country, family members and friends used social media to share the news of what was happening in Sidi Bouzid with international media.

Breaking through the media blackout

Mohamed Bouazizi was not the first Tunisian to set himself alight in an act of public protest.

Abdesslem Trimech, to name one of many cases occurred without any significant media attention, set himself ablaze in the town of Monastir on March 3 after facing bureaucratic hindrance in his own work as a street vendor.

Neither was it evident that the protests that begin in Sidi Bouzid would spread to other towns. There had been similar clashes between police and protesters in the town of Ben Guerdane, near the border with Libya, in August.

The key difference in Sidi Bouzid was that locals fought to get news of what was happening out, and succeeded.MORE

At the moment Tunisians are still protesting, demanding that all of Ben Ali's former government ministers be kicked out of their posts, and that Ben Ali himself and his family members be brought back for trial. The government is also working on allowing Tunisian exiles to return home


In Egypt, third straight day of protestsProtesters torch Egypt police post: Police post in city of Suez burnt down as angry protests continue to erupt despite security crackdown.

Angry demonstrators in Egypt have torched a police post in the eastern city of Suez, where violence between police and protesters has racheted up amid a security crackdown.

Police fled the post before protesters used petrol bombs to set it on fire Thursday morning, witnesses told the Reuters news agency. Police in Suez responded to other demonstrators by firing rubber-coated bullets, water cannons and teargas.MORE

Global Voices has Egypt Protests 2011 including the news that Twitter and Facebook and mobile phones have been blocked in Egypt.


Meantime Algeria has been having protests for a while now over various reasons including

unemployment, the lack of housing, food inflation, corruption, freedom of speech and poor living conditions.

Wikipedia has got quite a comprehensive looking timeline called the 2011 Algerian Protests. Worth a look. The Government has been cracking down but so far the Algerians are standing firm. Algerians defy ban to protest government

Algiers, Algeria (CNN) -- Baton-wielding Algerian security forces clashed Saturday with protesters who defied a ban and took to the streets of the capital demanding political reform.

Eleven individuals and eight policemen were injured, two seriously, the official Algerie Presse Service reported.

Police arrested nine protesters, the news service said.

Algeria's largest opposition party, Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), last week called the demonstration to demand the release of detainees, the lifting of a state of emergency that has been in place for almost two decades, and the restoration of individual and collective freedoms.

"We asked to do a march, in a legal way, but they told us: 'You are the opposition and you don't have any rights in your country,'" said Said Saadi, head of the RCD.MORE

Bob Marley Get Up Stand Up

I really feel the need for an icon that has the chorus of that song to accompany these posts!