Unrest in the middle east

YEMEN

Security forces opened fire Friday on tens of thousands of anti-government protesters flooding into a square in the capital, Sanaa, after prayers, killing at least 46 people and injuring hundreds. President Ali Abdullah Saleh declared a nationwide state of emergency.

SYRIA

Syrian security forces dispersed protesters in two towns, state media reported, in what appeared to be the gravest unrest in years in one of the Mideast’s most-repressive states. Human-rights activists also said security forces dispersed about a dozen protesters calling for more freedoms in Damascus.

BAHRAIN

Authorities in Bahrain demolished the huge white monument in Pearl Square where members of the tiny island kingdom’s Shiite majority have protested to demand greater rights from the Sunni monarchy. The unrest in Bahrain, which has killed at least 12 people, has sparked regional sectarian tensions. Saudi Arabia and other Sunni Gulf states have sent troops, while Shiite Iran has backed the protesters and withdrawn its ambassador.

IRAQ

Thousands of protesters rallied in mostly Shiite cities across Iraq to condemn what some call “sectarian attacks” by security forces in Bahrain against Shiite protesters.

IRAN

A senior Iranian cleric, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, urged Bahrain’s majority Shiites to keep up their protests — until death or victory — against the Sunni monarchy. After prayers, thousands of Iranians rallied against the Bahraini crackdown.

Source: Associated Press