Egypt-inspired protests gain pace across region, Posted by Meosha Eaton

As reported by Reuters:

* Clashes reported in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Iran

   * Obama says Mideast rulers must "get out ahead of change"

   * Rulers mix economic, political concessions with repression

    (updates throughout, adds death in Yemen para 10)

    By Paul Taylor

    Feb 16 (Reuters) - Anti-government protests inspired by

popular revolts that toppled rulers in Tunisia and Egypt are

gaining pace around the Middle East and North Africa despite

political and economic concessions by nervous governments.

    Clashes were reported in tightly controlled oil producer

Libya, sandwiched between Egypt and Tunisia, while new protests

erupted in Bahrain, Yemen and Iran on Wednesday.

    The latest demonstrations against long-serving rulers came

after U.S. President Barack Obama, commenting on the overthrow

of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, declared: "The world is

changing...if you are governing these countries, you've got to

get out ahead of change, you can't be behind the curve."

[ID:nN15125693]

    With young people able to watch pro-democracy uprisings in

other countries on satellite television or the Internet, and to

communicate with like-minded activists on social networks hard

for the secret police to control, governments across the region

have grounds to fear contagion.

    Hundreds of opponents of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in

power since 1969, clashed with police and government supporters

in the eastern city of Benghazi overnight, a witness and local

media said. [ID:nLDE71F07J]

    Reports from the port city, 1,000 km (600 miles) east of the

capital Tripoli, said protesters armed with stones and petrol

bombs set fire to vehicles and fought with police in a rare

outbreak of unrest in the oil-exporting country.

    The riot in Libya's second city was sparked by the arrest of

human rights activist Fethi Tarbel, who has worked to free

political prisoners, Quryna newspaper said.

    Gaddafi's opponents used the Facebook social network to call

for protests across Libya on Thursday. 

    In a possible concession to the protesters, Libya will free

110 members of the banned militant organisation the Libyan

Islamic Fighting Group from Tripoli's notorious Abu Salim prison

on Wednesday, another human rights activist said.

   

    POLITICAL, ECONOMIC CONCESSIONS

    In Yemen, a 21-year old protester died from gunshot wounds

after fierce clashes broke out between police and demonstrators

in the southern port town of Aden, his father said, as unrest

spread across the Arabian Peninsula state.

    Mohammed Ali Alwani was among two people hit as police fired

shots into the air to try to break up around 500 protesters.

    In the Yemeni capital Sanaa at least 800 anti-government

protesters marched against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a U.S.

ally in the fight against al Qaeda. [ID:nLDE71F0N3]

    In power for more than 30 years, Saleh has pledged to step

down when his term expires in 2013 and offered dialogue with the

opposition, but radical protesters are demanding he go now.

    In Bahrain, protesters poured into the capital of the Gulf

island kingdom, Manama, for a third successive day to mourn a

demonstrator killed in clashes with security forces on Tuesday.

[ID:nLDE71F002]

    The emirate has a history of protest over economic hardship,

the lack of political freedom and sectarian discrimination by

the Sunni rulers against the Shi'ite majority.

    Some 2,000 protesters demanding a change of government were

encamped at a major road junction in Manama, seeking to emulate

rallies on Cairo's Tahrir Square that toppled Mubarak.

    In Iran, supporters and opponents of the hardline Islamic

system clashed in Tehran during a funeral procession for a

student shot at an anti-government rally two days ago, state

broadcaster IRIB reported. [ID:nLDE71F0KK]

    Both sides claimed Sanee Zhaleh was a martyr to their cause

and blamed the other for his death.

    Monday's rallies in Tehran and several other Iranian cities

were the first staged by the Green pro-democracy movement since

security forces crushed huge protests in the months after

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed 2009 re-election.

    Rulers in several countries, drawing lessons from events in

Tunisia and Egypt, have announced political changes and moved to

cut prices of basic foodstuffs and raise spending on job

creation in efforts to pre-empt spreading unrest.

    

    SOCIAL NEEDS

    Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika promised to lift a

19-year-old state of emergency soon and has acted to reduce the

cost of staple foods in the North African oil and gas exporter.

    Authorities deployed an estimated 30,000 police in Algiers

on Saturday to prevent a banned pro-democracy march. Several

hundred protesters defied the ban and dozens were detained.

    A coalition of civil society and human rights groups and an

opposition party vowed afterwards to demonstrate every Saturday

until the military-backed government is removed. [ID:nLDE7130EC]

    Morocco, where the main banned Islamist opposition movement

warned last week that "autocracy" would be swept away unless

there were deep democratic reforms, announced on Tuesday it

would almost double state subsidies to counter an increase in

commodity prices and address social needs. [ID:nLDE71E1FZ]

    Syria, controlled by the Baath Party for the last 50 years,

released a veteran Islamist activist on Tuesday after he went on

hunger strike following his arrest 11 days ago for calling for

Egyptian-style mass protests, human rights activists said.

[ID:ID:nLDE71E2HW]

    Jordan's King Abdullah has sacked his prime minister and

appointed a new government led by a former general who promised

to widen public freedom in response to anti-government protests.

[ID:nLDE718247]

    Countries with oil and gas wealth such as Saudi Arabia and

Algeria appear better placed than poorer countries like Egypt

and Tunisia to buy social peace.

   (Editing by Angus MacSwan)