DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The possible heirs of Egypt’s uprising took to the streets Monday in different corners of the Middle East.
Iran’s beleaguered opposition stormed back to central Tehran and came under a tear-gas attack by police.
Demonstrators faced rubber bullets and birdshot to demand more freedoms in the relative wealth of Bahrain. And protesters pressed for the ouster of the ruler in poverty-drained Yemen.
In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority cabinet resigned.
The protests offer an important lesson about how groups across the Middle East are absorbing the message from Cairo and tailoring it to their own aspirations. The heady themes of democracy, justice and empowerment remain intact as the protest wave works its way through the Arab world and beyond. What changes, however, are the objectives. The Egypt effect is elastic.
“This isn’t a one-size-fits-all thing,” said Mustafa Alani, a regional analyst at the Gulf Research Center in Dubai. “Each place will interpret the fallout from Egypt in their own way and in their own context.”
For the Iranian opposition — not seen on the streets in more than a year — it’s become a moment to reassert its presence after facing relentless pressures. Tens of thousands of protesters clashed with security forces along some of Tehran’s main boulevards, which were shrouded in clouds of tear gas in scenes that recalled the chaos after the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June 2009. A pro-government news agency reported one bystander was killed by gunfire.
In Yemen, the protests are about speeding the ouster of the U.S.-allied president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has promised he would step down in 2013.
Monday’s protests mirrored the calls in Egypt and Tunisia against leaders there who had been in power for decades: “The people want the regime to step down.”
Protesters in the tiny Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain are not looking to topple its monarchy. But their demands are no less lofty: greater political freedom and sweeping changes in how the country is run.
A coalition in Algeria — human-rights activists, unionists, lawyers and others — has called for protests Saturday to push for the end of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s 12-year rule. Kuwait’s highly organized opposition, including parliament members, plans gatherings on March 8 to demand a wholesale change of cabinet officials but not the ruling emir.
“We are experiencing a pan-Arab democratic moment of sorts,” said Shadi Hamid, director of research at The Brookings Doha Center in Qatar. “For opposition groups, it comes down the question of, ‘If not now, when?’ ”
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority cabinet in the West Bank resigned Monday. Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad submitted the resignations to President Mahmoud Abbas, who immediately reappointed Fayyad premier and directed him to form a new cabinet.
The West Bank has seen high economic growth accompanied by new investment in recent months. But some Palestinians have felt disenchanted with the lack of progress on the peace process with Israel or with steps Abbas has taken to curtail criticism of his leadership. Palestinian police prevented some protests that were meant to show solidarity with pro-democracy demonstrators in Egypt.
Palestinian government officials did not deny that the regional turmoil that swept Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from power had probably expedited the cabinet reshuffle. But they noted that eight of the 24 cabinet slots were vacant and that Fayyad had been contemplating making a change for some time.
The Washington Post contributed to this report.
