February 19, 2011 12:09 PM EST
Protesters in Bahrain appeared to gain the initiative on Saturday and mourners buried their dead in western Libya as the wave of protest washing across the Arab world tested more of the region's longtime rulers.
Unrest has spread from Tunisia and Egypt to Bahrain, Libya, Yemen and Djibouti, as people of one country after another lose their fear of oppressive, autocratic rulers and take to the streets demanding democratic change and economic opportunity.
Pro- and anti-government crowds in the Yemeni capital Sanaa hurled stones at each other and fired in the air, riot police corralled protesters in Algiers into a courtyard, and demonstrators clashed with security forces in Djibouti.
In Bahrain, a key U.S. ally and home to the U.S. Fifth Fleet, thousands of protesters regained control of Pearl Square in Manama, after first troops and then riot police withdrew from the symbolically important traffic circle.
Up to 80 people hit by rubber bullets or affected by teargas fired by the police before their withdrawal were taken to a Bahrain hospital, a doctor said.
Follow us
The crown prince, charged by King Hamad on Friday with opening a dialogue with protesters, called for a national day of mourning and appealed for calm.
He had earlier announced that all troops had been ordered off the streets -- meeting one of the conditions for talks spelt out by an ex-lawmaker of the main Shi'ite opposition bloc Wefaq.
Ibrahim Mattar told Reuters the authorities must accept the concept of constitutional monarchy and pull troops off the streets before a dialogue could begin.
"Then we can go for a temporary government of new faces that would not include the current interior or defense ministers," he said.
The government is led by the Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa dynasty, but the Shi'ite majority has long complained about what it sees as discrimination in access to state jobs, housing and healthcare, a charge the government denies.
The United States and top oil producer Saudi Arabia see Bahrain as a Sunni bulwark against neighboring Shi'ite regional power Iran.
In Libya, mourners in the eastern city of Benghazi were burying some of the dozens of protesters shot dead by security forces in the worst unrest of Muammar Gaddafi's four decades in power.
Human Rights Watch said 35 people were killed in the city late on Friday, adding to dozens who had already died in a fierce crackdown on three days of protests against Gaddafi's rule, inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
A security source said clashes were still under way on Saturday in the region between Benghazi and Al Bayda, 200 km away.
Dharun Ravi Sentencing Online Live Stream: Watch Rutgers Student Sentenced For Spying On Tyler Clementi
Mexico: Zetas Cartel Boss Arrested For Ordering Massacre
JPMorgan Chase's $2B Bug: How Lyme Disease Sickened The Banking Industry Titan
Scientists Discover An Extinct Giant Turtle, The Carbonemys Cofrinii, Or 'Coal Turtle' The Size Of A Car
Three Climbers Reported Dead Scaling Mount Everest: Eberhard Schaaf, Shriya Shah, and Song Won-bin Dead, Two Others MissingWe value your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.
