U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Saturday he thinks leaders in Persian Gulf ally Bahrain are serious about addressing grievances that have spawned a growing protest movement, but swift action is needed to deny rival Iran the chance to exploit the current instability.
Gates told reporters on his flight home from the Mideast that he urged rulers in the kingdom, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, to view their crisis as a chance to show other Arab governments how political change can prove successful.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of protesters marched on a royal palace hours after clashes with police injured dozens of activists. This time police held their fire.
YEMEN: Security forces kill 6 during protest.
Yemeni security forces in the capital Sanaa killed six people Saturday and wounded hundreds in the second day of a crackdown on anti-government protests, witnesses said. One of the dead was a 15-year-old student.
The assault with gunfire and tear gas was the toughest yet by the Yemeni government in a month of protests aimed at unseating President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in power for 32 years.
EGYPT: Military to scrap law restricting political parties.
Egypt’s military rulers plan to scrap a law that has restricted the formation of political parties, a government official said Saturday, the latest liberalization of the strict regime of ousted President Hosni Mubarak.
The official said the restrictions that gave Mubarak a virtual veto over the establishment of political parties would be lifted after a referendum this week on constitutional changes to allow for fair parliamentary and presidential elections.
IRAQ: Prime minister mocks protesters.
Iraq’s prime minister on Saturday described protesters calling for a regime change as out of step with the will of the nascent democracy and brushed off his critics as few and weak.
In an interview on state TV, Nouri al-Maliki also questioned whether those who want him to go would prefer Iraq to return to the days of dictatorship.
His comments contrasted with lawmakers’ tentative agreement hours earlier to cut their monthly pay in half and reduce the salaries of the nation’s top leaders, in hopes of appeasing protesters who accuse them of living in luxury at the expense of the poor.
JORDAN: Royalists voice support for king.
Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets of the capital Saturday to voice allegiance to King Abdullah II in the biggest show of support for the monarch since opposition protests began calling for him to give up some of his powers.
The 10,000 loyal subjects were nearly triple the size of the opposition protests, inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria.
AZERBAIJAN: Dozens of protesters arrested.
Police in Azerbaijan arrested 50 protesters Saturday, the second day of demonstrations in Baku, the capital, calling for the resignation of President Ilham Aliyev, whose family has been ruling the oil-rich state since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Several hundred protesters gathered Saturday for a rally organized by an opposition party, Musavat, which intended to ride the wave of revolts in the Middle East and North Africa.
Denver Post wire reports
