The Next Domino Falls in the Revolution

Albania Braces for Fresh Protests

January 29, 2011

AFP - The mood of revolt has spread beyond the Arab world to the Balkans.

The Albanian opposition gearing up for another anti-government protest today and the police warning of a high risk of violence.

The opposition Socialist Party said the rally was aimed at honouring the three victims of violent clashes in last week's anti-government demonstration. Protesters have been calling on the government to resign, claiming corruption and electoral fraud.

"I want to assure you it will be peaceful and quiet, there will be flowers and candles," Socialist leader Edi Rama said yesterday.

"Everything will be normal, not provoking anyone and not being provoked by anyone."

Police said the demonstration was a danger to national security, and warned that they could not guarantee the rally's safety.

Mr Rama, who is Tirana's Mayor, said he regretted the police statement.

"I would like to convey our deepest respect for the police . . . I am calling for respect and solidarity to be shown to the police."

But demonstrators last week pelted police with stones and set police cars on fire.

The opposition has not yielded to appeals by the international community to cancel the protest. Leaders have urged participants to "silently follow the procession led by families of the victims, Rama and all Socialist deputies".

Under Albania's Muslim traditions, the seventh day after a death is a time to honour the dead.

Prime Minister Sali Berisha cancelled a pro-government rally planned for tonight (AEDT) in response to international pressure.

Jordanians Rally Against Corruption and Poverty

January 29, 2011

Reuters - Jordanian activists rallied outside government offices Saturday as they tried to step up their campaign to force Prime Minister Samir Rifai to step down.

Inspired by unrest in Tunisia and elsewhere in the region, about 200 Jordanians gathered outside the prime minister's office shouting "Our government is a bunch of thieves" and holding banners reading "No to poverty or hunger."

"We've come from distant, rural areas to Amman to ask Rifai to leave," said Mohammed Sunaid, a prominent labor activist.

"We call for the overthrow of this government that has destroyed the poor. This government should be for all Jordanians not just the rich."

Jordan is struggling with its worst economic downturn in decades. The government has announced measures to cut prices of essentials, create jobs and raise salaries of civil servants.
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Protesters say the moves do not go far enough and have staged rallies calling for the reversal of free-market reforms which many blame for a widening gap between rich and poor.

Protesters say the sale of state assets to foreign investors over the past decade has enriched the country's business and political elite but has done little to help the poor.

"We want a special court that will put on trial all those who sold the property of the Jordanian people ..." Sunaid said.

Others have called for constitutional reforms to curb the extensive power of the king who appoints cabinets, approves legislation and can dissolve parliament.

"We hope that citizens will be able to chose the government that represents them ...," said Ali Dalain, an activist and former deputy from the southern city of Karak.

Unlike Tunis or Egypt, the Jordanian state has long focused its economic drive and budget money on developing rural areas.

But discontent has grown nonetheless as the economic downturn weakened the state's ability to create jobs in the public sector which has traditionally absorbed poor tribesmen in rural areas.

Protests Spread to Saudi Arabia

January 30, 2011

Zero Hedge - While the biggest threat to the Middle East region is the possibility that the population of Saudi Arabia may try to imitate what has been happening in the area, thereby bringing total chaos to the established regional geopolitical and more importantly, energy, structure, the first protests in the Saudi Arabia city of Jeddah are already in the books.

The clip below shows the peaceful demonstrations that have taken place recently, which as Fedupmontrealer explains are “taking place in front of the Municipality in protest of the severe lack of infrastructure, and corruption, that led the city to be inundated this week causing billions of dollars of damages for the second time in two years.”

That this is even occurring in a state where the average wealth is orders of magnitude greater than in Egypt is remarkable. On the other hand, we expect more news such as those from yeserday that Kuwait is paying its citizens $3,500 plus free food for a year to keep calm. Oddly, visions of money dropping helicopters, infinitely extendable unemployment insurance and tax breaks keep dancing in our head.

Those who wish to follow the latest developments out of Jedda which appears could be the lightning rod for Saudi riots can do so by tracking #JeddahProtests on Twitter.

Chants of Revolution Echo in Britain

Thousands of protesters pour into the streets in London and Manchester, again, to shout their anger at the government's policies, with some clashing with police.

January 29, 2011

PressTV - The National Union of Students (NUS) and Trade Unions Congress (TUC) joined forces in a protest against the increase in university tuition fees, spending and education cuts, and job losses, with a group chanting "Revolution, revolution", British media reported.

British students and trade unionists broke through police lines in central London and were chased by an enhanced number of police forces to the city center where officers later ''kettled'' a group of angry protesters and arrested six people.

In Manchester, general secretary of the UCU lecturers' union, Sally Hunt addressed the rally, saying that the government was actually at "war with young people" and "betraying" an entire generation.

She attacked the government for raising tuition fees in England to a new upper limit of £9,000 per year and for scrapping education maintenance allowances for college students.

In London, with banners such as "Still angry, still here," protesters sent the message that the campaign against higher fees and university spending cuts had not disappeared.

Saturday's rallies have been the latest in a series of demonstrations and occupations by students.

On the day MPs voted to raise tuition fees, there were angry scenes on the streets of London as thousands of students marched through the capital.

Violent clashes erupted between student protesters and police outside Parliament where police "kettled" them for hours and arrested dozens of people while several others were injured.

A large group of protesters in London left the main venue for the Egyptian embassy on Saturday where they expressed strong solidarity with the Egyptian people in their struggle for freedom and change.

One slogan being brandished in London drew an analogy between international events and the UK, declaring: "Ben Ali, Mubarak… Cameron, you are next."

The protesters were referring to Tunisia where people toppled president Ben Ali's government and to Egypt where people have been coming out in their thousands to demand that president Mubarak relax his grip on power and allow for a fundamental change in the Egyptian society.

Sudanese Police Clash with Students in Khartoum

January 30, 2011

MSNBC — Sudanese police beat and arrested students on Sunday as hundreds protested throughout the capital demanding the government resign, inspired by a popular uprising in neighbouring Egypt.

Armed riot police broke up groups of young Sudanese demonstrating in central Khartoum and surrounded the entrances of four universities in the capital, firing teargas and beating students at three of them. Some 500 young people also protested in the city of el-Obeid in North Kordofan in the west of the country.

Police beat students with batons as they chanted anti-government slogans such as "we are ready to die for Sudan" and "revolution, revolution until victory."

Groups have emerged on social networking sites calling themselves "Youth for Change" and "The Spark," since the uprisings in nearby Tunisia and close ally Egypt this month. "Youth for Change" has attracted more than 15,000 members.

"The people of Sudan will not remain silent any more," its Facebook page said. "It is about time we demand our rights and take what's ours in a peaceful demonstration that will not involve any acts of sabotage."

The pro-democracy group Girifna ("We're fed up") said nine members were detained the night before the protest and opposition party officials listed almost 40 names of protesters arrested on Sunday. Five were injured, they added.

Sudan has a close affinity with Egypt -- the two countries were united under British colonial rule. The unprecedented scenes there inspired calls for similar action in Sudan, where protests without permission, which is rarely given, are illegal.

Before Tunisia's popular revolt, Sudan was the last Arab country to overthrow a leader with popular protests, ousting Jaafar Nimeiri in 1985.

Opposition leader Mubarak al-Fadil told Reuters two of his sons were arrested on their way to the central protest.

Editor-in-chief of the al-Wan daily paper Hussein Khogali said his daughter had been detained by security forces since 8 a.m. (1 a.m. EST) accused of organising the Facebook-led protest.



PROTESTS IN WEST

Around 500 protestors engulfed the market in the North Kordofan capital el-Obeid in Sudan's west, before police used tear gas to disperse them, three witnesses said.

"They were shouting against the government and demanding change," said witness Ahmed who declined to give his full name.

Pro-government newspapers carried front page warnings against protests which they said would cause chaos and turmoil.

The Sudan Vision daily's editorial blamed the opposition.

"Our message to those opposition dinosaurs is to unite their ideas and objectives for the benefit of the citizens if they are really looking for the welfare of the Sudanese people," it read.

Sudan is in deep economic crisis which analysts blame on government overspending and misguided policies. A bloated import bill caused foreign currency shortages and forced an effective devaluation of the Sudanese pound last year, sparking soaring inflation.

Early this month the government cut subsidies on petroleum products and key commodity sugar, triggering smaller protests throughout the north.

Sunday's protests coincided with the first official announcement of results for a referendum on the oil-producing south's secession from the north showing an overwhelming vote for independence, which many in the north oppose.

Police spokesman Ahmed al-Tuhami told Reuters the police did not have figures for any injured or arrested.

"We did not use more violence than necessary -- we did not want anyone to spoil this day with the referendum results."