THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Thousands of people marching illegally through Iran were targeted by police firing tear gas on Monday as the wave of Middle East revolution continued to spread beyond Egypt and Tunisia.
Eye witnesses spoke of shots being fired and scores of arrests as demonstrators in Tehran shouting "Death to the Dictator" approached Imam Hossein Square. One protester was shot dead and several were wounded by gunshots, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
Across the region, opposition groups seized on the success of 18 days of protest in the Egyptian capital Cairo and across the country to make demands for more political rights.
In Sana'a, Yemen, several thousand people calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down before the end of his current term in 2013 hurled stones at police who were attacking them with batons. Bahrain police fired buckshot at demonstrators, and there were also protests in Iraq.
In Egypt, military police moved in to clear the last remaining protesters in Tahrir Square, who had pledged to remain to ensure the army kept its promise to hand over power to a democratic civilian regime. Those who resisted were carried away by force to waiting unmarked trucks.
But in place of pro-democracy protests, many government buildings were surrounded by striking workers demanding higher wages and the sacking of bosses perceived as corrupt or as cronies of the collapsed regime of Hosni Mubarak. Read on and comment >>> Richard Spencer, Middle East Correspondent | Monday, February 14, 2011
