Middle East

In Egypt, hundreds of pro-democracy protesters have been attacked in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Small groups armed with rocks and knives were seen assaulting demonstrators ahead of an Egyptian military effort to remove the last of the protesters who have remained in Tahrir since the uprising that toppled U.S.-backed President Hosni Mubarak last month.

Amnesty International has called on the Saudi Arabian authorities to reverse the ban on peaceful protest, amid fears of a violent crackdown on mass demonstrations planned for Friday’s “Day of Rage”. Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the foreign minister, said that “reform cannot be achieved through protests”, while the protest ban was backed by religious and security bodies.

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), an eminent non-governmental organization, has expressed disappointment at the proposed amendments to Egypt’s Constitution and asked the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to review these so that the objectives of the “January 25 revolution” are not consigned to oblivion.

In several meetings with groups of young people in Cairo, Tomas Hirsch, a spokesperson for Universalist Humanism in Latin America, gained insight into the vision of young women and men who continue going to Tahrir Square every night to ensure that the process of change continues in a real way. The following is a summary of our conversation with Hirsch.

Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq resigned unexpectedly, sparking celebrations from protesters who demand a purge of the remnants of ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
The country’s military rulers said he would be replaced by Essam Sharaf, a former transport minister who joined the rallies in Cairo’s Tahrir Square that led to Mubarak’s resignation on February 11.

Huge crowds poured onto the streets of the Yemeni capital in what the opposition hailed as the biggest protest yet against the President three-decade rule.
The veteran leader, whose supporters staged a large counter-demonstration, dismissed the opposition rally as a copycat action mimicking protests in other Arab countries that he charged had been fanned by Israel and the US.

Protests meanwhile are continuing across the Middle East. In Bahrain, thousands continue to flood the streets of the capital city of Manama. On Sunday, demonstrators marched to a central court building in their deepest foray into the city so far. The protests come as leading Bahraini Shiite opposition leader Hassan Mushaima has returned from exile.

Amnesty International has urged the Yemeni authorities to end its crackdown on anti-government demonstrations after two protesters were reported to have been killed in Sana’a.
They would be the first fatalities in the capital since the outbreak of unrest earlier this month and bring the total killed to 16, including 13 in the southern city of Aden.

As protests continue in Bahrein, mobilizing people to the squares and public areas to claim for their demands, we tried to interview one of the non-violent Human Rights activist working there but he preferred not to give his name and just explained us the main reasons that are moving people against their government. Here we publish those reasons.

Latin America is definitely on the move: there are multiple events taking place in political, economic, social, cultural, ethnic, institutional, religious and spiritual fields, showing a new moment.
Here we publish the complete transcription of the lecture given at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem by Tomás Hirsch, humanist Latin American leader.