Updated: March 1, 2011
A wave of unrest has swept across the Arab world and beyond. The suicide of a street vendor in Tunisia led to a revolt that ousted that country's autocratic ruler, and less than a month later, Egypt's ruler was gone. The agitation continues in many lands; hundreds of thousands of protesters have turned out in cities across the Middle East to protest the unaccountability of their leaders and express their solidarity. Here is a summary of the latest major developments:
YEMEN March 1: Protests drove President Ali Abdullah Saleh to make a bid for a unity government, but the political opposition quickly refused and protesters returned to the streets. An opposition leader, Mohamed al-Sabry, said in a statement that the president’s proposal was a “desperate attempt” to counter the latest protests.
LIBYA March 1: Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s forces appeared to make little headway in a concerted assault on rebels in several cities around the country and in a sustained attack in the western city of Zawiyah. Rebels appeared to hold the city after a night of fighting, fending off tanks and artillery vehicles, special forces and regular army troops, and, rebels said, fighter jets. The Pentagon began repositioning Navy warships closer to the Libyan coast to support a possible humanitarian or military intervention. Timeline: Qaddafi
WASHINGTON Feb. 28: An international campaign to force Colonel Qaddafi from power gathered pace as the Obama administration announced it had seized $30 billion in Libyan assets and the European Union adopted an arms embargo and other sanctions. As the Pentagon began repositioning Navy warships, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton bluntly told the Libyan leader to surrender power “now, without further violence or delay.”
OMAN Feb. 28: Oman, the normally quiet sultanate along the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, joined the wave of political protests shaking the Arab world, as hundreds of demonstrators clashed with riot police in the northeast port city of Sohar. Oman’s state news agency said two protesters were killed. Shortly after the violence, Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who has led oil-rich Oman for the past 40 years, gave orders to create 50,000 jobs, and award the equivalent of $386 a month to every job seeker.
TUNISIA Feb. 27: Tunisia’s prime minister, Mohamed Ghannouchi, resigned after a weekend of violent protests that left five people dead in the capital, Tunis. The prime minister, a holdover from the government that was toppled in January, had been the target of weeks of demonstrations by protesters who felt that he was tainted by his links to the old government.
EGYPT Feb. 26: Tens of thousands of Egyptians flooded Tahrir Square as much to renew the spirit of Egypt’s popular revolution, which resulted in President Hosni Mubarak's resignation on Feb. 11, as to press for new demands. The square felt like a carnival, filled with banners in Egypt’s national colors of black, white and red. But the military made it clear there would be limits to further dissent as soldiers and plainclothes security officers moved into the square, beating protesters and tearing down their tents, witnesses said.
BAHRAIN Feb. 26: Pro-democracy demonstrations on a scale that appeared to dwarf the largest ever seen in the tiny Persian Gulf nation blocked miles of downtown roads and highways in Manama, the capital. The crowds overflowed from the city's Center Square for the second time in a week, demanding that their king dissolve the government and agree to a transition to a true constitutional monarchy. In a shift, it was the country’s Shiite religious leaders, not the political opposition, who called for people to take to the streets, a development that could change the dynamic in the Sunni kingdom.
IRAQ Feb. 25: Demonstrations turned violent across Iraq, asprotesters burned buildings and security forces fired on the crowds. Thousands of Iraqis demanding better government services took to the streets in at least 10 cities, from Basra in the south to Mosul in the north, despite attempts by the government and by top Shiite leaders to head off the protests.
IRAN Feb. 23: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a televised address, condemning Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's violent crackdown on Libyan protesters. The popular revolts shaking the Arab world have begun to shift the balance of power in the region, bolstering Iran’s position while weakening and unnerving its rival, Saudi Arabia, regional experts said.
ALGERIA Feb. 19: Hundreds of police in Algeria’s capital used clubs to overwhelm a small group of antigovernment demonstrators. The government has combined tough police action with promises of concessions in the wake of the turbulence that has swept the region, accelerating vows to lift a years-old state of emergency and speaking of new jobs and housing.
JORDAN Feb. 18: A protest turned violent in the Jordanian capital as government supporters clashed with demonstrators calling for political change, injuring several. Antigovernment protests have become routine on Fridays in the past weeks, but this was the first time that one ended in confrontation.
Background
On Dec. 17, 2010, in the impoverished Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, a street vendor who had been slapped in the face by a policewoman confiscating his wares set himself on fire outside of a government building. The desperate act of the vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, led to protests in the town, which were recorded in video clips posted on YouTube. By the time he died on Jan. 4, 2011, protests that started over Mr. Bouazizi’s treatment in Sidi Bouzid had spread to cities throughout the country.
