The unrest has now spread to Lybia
Hundreds of Libyans calling for the government’s ouster clashed with security forces early Wednesday in the country’s second-largest city as Egypt-inspired unrest spread to the country long ruled by Moammar Gadhafi.
Ashur Shamis, a Libyan opposition activist in London, and witnesses said the protest began Tuesday and lasted until the early hours Wednesday in the port city of Benghazi.
Demonstrators chanted “no God but Allah, Moammar is the enemy of Allah” and “Down, down to corruption and to the corrupt.” Police and armed government backers quickly clamped down on the protesters, firing rubber bullets, Shami said.
The outbreak of protests in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain and Iran has roiled the Middle East and brought unprecedented pressure on leaders like Gadhafi who have held virtually unchecked power for decades.
Of course, not all of these protests are being done by little darlings looking for freedom and democracy: there are some hardcore Islamists involved, particularly in Lybia, as the story points out.
Meanwhile, it is getting violent in Bahrain, and Obama’s messaging is….wrong, as typical
The Obama administration has responded quite differently to two embattled governments that have beaten protesters and blocked the Internet in recent days to fend off the kind of popular revolt that brought down Egypt’s government.
With Iran — a country under sanctions pursuing a nuclear program that has put it at odds with the West — the administration has all but encouraged protesters to take to the streets. With Bahrain, a strategically important ally across the Persian Gulf from Iran, it has urged its king to address the grievances of his people.
State Dept. spokesman Phillip Crowley says the US is “very concerned” about the violence and “urges restraint” from all parties. Remember when the United States could actually make a difference, and didn’t use wishy washy language? That was before Obama’s great worldwide apology tour.
It’s also getting even more violent in Yemen.
Teach, it is only violent because of the right-wing whites-only teabaggers trying to eliminate any form of government.
At least, that’s what the secular non-violent Muslim Brotherhood told me.