After Clashes in Iran, Protests in Yemen and Bahrain

Protesters threw stones at riot police in Tehran on Monday.

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR and ALAN COWELL
NYT

A day after riot police in Iran beat protesters and fired tear gas to contain the most significant street protests since the end of the 2009 uprising there, protests continued on Tuesday in other parts of the region as demonstrators clashed with security forces in Bahrain and Yemen.

In all three countries, the eruptions had been inspired by events in Tunisia and Egypt, where predominantly young protesters mobilizing their supporters with digital technology succeeded in ousting entrenched authoritarian regimes that had once seemed untouchable.

In Bahrain, where a Sunni Muslim elite rules a largely Shiite nation, police clashed with mourners following the body of a protester killed on Monday. As the police fired tear gas in an attempt to block the funeral procession, a second demonstrator was killed by gunfire, human rights organizations said.

The largest Shiite bloc in the Parliament, the Wefaq National Islamic Society, announced it was suspending its participation in the body. ‘This is the first step. We want to see dialogue,” Ibrahim Mattar, a Wefaq parliamentarian, told Reuters. “In the coming days, we are either going to resign from the council or continue.”

(More here.)