Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Protests and Threats

The protests continue in Iran, Yemen, and even Bahrain, along with Egypt and Algeria. Two people were killed in the Bahrain protests, and members of the Parliament have walked out.
Two protesters have died in clashes with Bahraini police, sparking angry calls from young cyber-activists for regime change and a walkout of parliament by Bahrain's main Shiite opposition bloc.

The events prompted King Hamad to express sorrow for the deaths, announce a ministerial probe and pledge to press ahead with reforms, in an address to the tiny Gulf state facing Iran across the Gulf that is ruled by his Sunni family.

The Islamic National Accord Association which has 18 seats in the 40-member house earlier announced it had "suspended its membership" in parliament over the killings of the Shiite demonstrators.

The decision came because of "the deterioration in security and the negative and brutal way in which (authorities) dealt with the protesters, killing two of them," bloc member MP Khalil al-Marzooq said.

Fadel Salman Matrouk was shot dead in front of a hospital on Tuesday where mourners gathered for the funeral of Ali Msheymah who died of his wounds after police dispersed a protest in a village east of Manama on Monday, he said.
In Iran, the regime is calling for the heads of opposition leaders - they want them executed.



The members of Parliament calling for the blood of members of the opposition, including former President Rafsanjani aren't doing so unless they have the blessings of the mullahs and IRGC, and that's on top of the fact several political prisoners are presumed to have been executed by the regime:
Members of the Iranian parliament issued fiery chants against opposition leaders and former presidential candidates Mehdi Karrubi and Mir Hossein Moussavi.

Press TV aired video Tuesday of lawmakers chanting "Moussavi, Karrubi ... execute them."

Lawmakers also named former President Mohammad Khatami in some of the death chants.

The calls for the leaders' executions come after a particularly deadly month in Iran. At least 66 people were executed in January, according to Iranian media reports. Most of the executions were reportedly carried out for drug offenses, although at least three involved political prisoners, a U.N. statement said.

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is planning a political party, which is sure to raise eyebrows over their ultimate intentions, but forming a political party is preferable to a hostile takeover and imposing their theocratic will over that of the population. Protests there continue, because of the ongoing economic concerns that helped spark the revolution/coup d'etat.

The Algerian PM thinks that the protesters are a small minority that is expressing discontent. I think he's deluding himself if he thinks that a small percentage of his countrymen are satisfied with conditions and he's likely to fall into the same trap that Mubarak did just days ago.

UPDATE:
Video from the Bahraini protests:

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