SYRIA: Protesters met with violence in Damascus.
Tens of thousands of protesters shouting “We want freedom!” made a bold march on the Syrian capital Friday, but security forces beat them back with tear gas and batons as the country’s month-long uprising swelled to the largest and most widespread gatherings to date.
The violence outside Damascus was the only major unrest during protests in several Syrian cities Friday. Security forces generally watched from the sidelines instead of cracking down. The change suggests President Bashar Assad might be trying to minimize deaths that have served to further outrage and mobilize the protesters.
GERMANY: NATO official looks to member nations for more help.
NATO’s secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said Friday that he soon expects member nations to provide extra ground-attack aircraft to strike Moammar Gadhafi’s forces in Libya, even though a two-meeting summit of the alliance in Berlin led to no concrete commitments.
France’s defense minister, meanwhile, suggested that any move to oust Gadhafi might require a new U.N. Security Council resolution.
YEMEN: Tribal chiefs call for president to resign.
Dozens of chiefs from Yemen’s two largest and most powerful tribes called on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down and strip his son of control over security forces, as rival crowds of protesters took to the streets Friday.
EGYPT: Mubarak moved to military hospital for questioning.
Egypt’s top prosecutor ordered deposed President Hosni Mubarak to be moved from a hospital at a Red Sea resort to a military hospital for questioning about the deaths of protesters and allegations of corruption and abuse of power. Mubarak was hospitalized for unspecified heart problems Tuesday, the first day of his questioning.
JORDAN: Demonstrators clash with royalists.
Hundreds of protesting Islamic hard-liners clashed with supporters of Jordan’s king, wounding dozens. A crowd of about 350 extremist Salafi Muslims faced off with a slightly smaller group of king loyalists in the town of Zarqa.
Denver Post wire services
