Tag: Protests

MUSCAT - Oman's Sultan Qaboos has replaced two ministers, days after protests erupted demanding an end to corruption and reforms in the normally placid Gulf state, official media reported on Saturday.
The sultan has appointed Khaled bin Hilal bin Saud al-Bousaidi as a minister of the royal court, replacing Ali bin Humud al-Bousaidi, the state ONA news agency said.
He also appointed Sultan bin Mohammed al-Numani as minister in the sultan's office, replacing Ali bin Majid

MANAMA - Protests in Bahrain are starting to make forays away from the central square in Manama and into different parts of the city, pressing the Sunni-led government for swift democratic reform.
Since thousands of protesters took to the streets two weeks ago there has been no formal dialogue between the government and the opposition, mainly majority Muslim Shi'ites, who say they are shut out of good jobs, decent healthcare and housing.
The king has pardoned political

LAHORE - The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) organised a protest and sit-in at the Qurtaba Chowk on Friday against the federal and Punjab government's inability to handle the case of US national Raymond Davis.
The protesters were carrying placards and chanted anti-US slogans while they also burnt an effigy of Davis. "Rulers are the slaves of the US, we ask the army and ISI to break the net of US spies in the country, as they are thousands in numbers. President Zardari never dared to utter

LAHORE - Anti-government protesters in Yemen have resumed demonstrations to try to force Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president, to quit, burning a car belonging to his supporters in the capital Sanaa, Al Jazeera reported. Tuesday's protests broke out a day after a teenager was killed and four people wounded in a clash with soldiers in the country's southern port of Aden, according to witnesses, the channel said.
Demonstrators, inspired by revolts in Tunisia and Egypt that have forced

ADEN/SANAA - The leader of Yemen's secessionist Southern Movement was arrested in Aden and shots were fired at a demonstration in Sanaa on Sunday as unrest hit the impoverished Arab country for a ninth consecutive day. Thousands of people also staged sit-ins in the cities of Ibb and Taiz, demanding the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who renewed his call for opposition parties to pursue a dialogue with the government.
Saleh, a US ally battling a resurgent al Qaeda wing

ISLAMABAD - Scores of All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) workers staged a protest rally on Saturday over the arrest warrants issued against their party chairman Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf in the Benazir Bhutto Assassination case.
A large number of APML, workers including former ministers Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, Dr Sher Afgan Niazi, Senior Vice President Ahmed Raza Kasuri and Dr Muhammad Amjad participated in the rally, which commenced from the APML Secretariat and culminated

DUBAI/MANAMA/TRIPOLI - At least 10 people were killed in Libya and Bahrain as people gathered in large numbers across the Middle East to protest against incumbent regimes. In Libya, six people were killed in clashes between anti-government protesters and security forces in Benghazi city, opposition websites said, as the authorities countered a "Day of Anger" with a pro-regime rally in Tripoli.
The situation was calm early in the day in Tripoli, where a pro-regime rally was

KARACHI - The provincial government has decided to merge the Sindh Minority Affairs Ministry with the Religious Affairs Ministry due to the inefficacy of Sindh Minority Affairs Minister Mohan Lal Kohistani, said Pakistan Hindu Foundation (PHF) President DM Maharaj.
The PHF chief said that this decision regarding the Minority Affairs Ministry - constituted by the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) government three years ago - could adversely affect the religious minorities of the

WASHINGTON - The US on Sunday called on Algerian security forces to show "restraint" during anti-government protests inspired by events in Egypt and neighboring Tunisia. The State Department said the rights of the Algerian people "must be respected," after demonstrators fed up with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's regime clashed with police Sunday, a day after 2,000 protesters were confronted by 30,000 riot police.
"We note the ongoing protests in Algeria, and call for restraint

The Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) observed a protest day on Friday against possible release of US national Raymond Davis on immense US pressure.
Rallies were held in the federal and provincial capitals, which were attended by JI leaders and other religious leaders. Addressing Friday prayer sermon at Mansoora, JI chief Munawar Hassan said that the rulers were US slaves and nothing good was expected from them. He made it clear that if rulers handed over Davis by compromising national honour

MANAMA: Bahrain's king decided on Friday to give 1,000 dinars ($2,650) to each Bahraini family, the latest step that the Sunni rulers have taken to appease the majority Shia public before protests planned next week.
"To praise the tenth anniversary of the National Action Charter and in recognition of the people of Bahrain.... His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa ... will provide the amount of one thousand dinars for each family of Bahrain after adopting necessary legal

CAIRO - Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators flooded Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square and towns across Egypt on Tuesday, in the biggest show of defiance to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak since the revolt began.
In Cairo, the immense crowd hailed as a hero a charismatic cyber-activist and Google executive whose Facebook site helped kickstart the protest movement on January 25 and who has since been detained and held blindfolded for 12 days.
The journalists overlooking the

CAIRO - Egypt's cultural glitterati have joined thousands of protesters from all walks of life calling for an immediate end to President Hosni Mubarak 30-year-rule. Khalid Abdalla, a British-Egyptian actor known for his lead role in the 2007 adaptation of KhaledHosseini's "The Kite Runner," was among the crowd on Cairo's Tahrir (Liberation) square on Saturday.
"I'm here because I'm asking for Mubarak to step down," Abdalla, 30, told Reuters. "I've been here since Friday before

ADEN - Police fired tear gas and live ammunition on Thursday to break up an anti-government protest in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, leaving two people injured, witnesses said. The police, who deployed in large numbers earlier in the morning, were seen by an AFP correspondent dispersing the protesters as they began to march in the Crater district of the city.
The demonstration - part of a "day of rage" in Yemen - had been called by Common Forum, an opposition coalition,

CAIRO - Egypt's all-powerful army on Monday said the people's demands were legitimate and vowed not to fire on them as protesters, who are demanding the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, prepared a general strike and million-strong marches. In what is seen as a sop, a new cabinet line-up was announced in which widely hated interior minister Habib al-Adly and the previous finance and culture ministers were axed.
But protesters massed in downtown Cairo vowed they would only be

CAIRO - Egypt's capital resembles a battlefield, with burned-out cars, streets littered with rubble and clouds of thick dark smoke billowing above the seat of government as protesters demand that President Hosni Mubarak step down.
"Allahu Akbar! (God is greatest)" and "The people want the president out" were some of the slogans chanted by thousands of demonstrators gathered on Saturday on Tahrir square in downtown Cairo. "Mubarak, go!" they cried. The anti-regime demonstrators

FAISALABAD - Due to the increasing number of protest rallies in the city, the city government is considering reserving a venue for all sorts of protestors to discharge their anger against the government without halting the city life. The idea was conceived by District Coordination Officer (DCO) Nasim Sadiq who floated his proposal during his recent meeting with the trader's community.
Ghanta Ghar Chowk and surrounding eight bazars' area is currently being used as the spring board