Hundreds of riot police backed up by tanks, bulldozers and helicopters killed at least two and wounded dozens more as they cleared a protest camp in Bahrain’s Pearl Square.
Dozens were injured as police cracked down on protesters in Casablanca and stormed the offices of the United Socialist Party. Leaders pledged to go ahead with a massive mobilization on March 20.
Saudi Arabia sent 1,000 troops into neighboring Bahrain to put down protesters that have occupied Manama’s financial center, as a White House spokesman said “This is not an invasion.”
Qaddafi-loyalist forces pushed deeper into rebel-held eastern Libya, overrunning the oil hub of Port Brega as opposition leaders in Benghazi issued an urgent call for a no-fly zone.
Two protesters were shot by police in Aden, as disturbing reports emerged from Sanaa of protesters passing out and going into convulsions after inhaling gas fired by police.
Following a day of clashes between police and protesters, Saudi Arabia is preparing to send troops to neighboring Bahrain in response to a request from crown prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa.
Some 60,000 Germans marched against nuclear power, forming a 45-kilometer human chain from Neckarwestheim power plant to the city of Stuttgart in Baden-Württemberg state.
Three were killed as security forces broke up a 100,000-strong sit-in to demand the ouster of Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh. A 14-year-old boy was also killed by police in the port of Mukalla.
Officials are denying that the reactor has exploded at Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant, but admit that local hourly radiation levels are already at what is considered safe for a year.
Police in Bahrain fired tear gas as anti-government protesters clashed with regime loyalists. Meanwhile, police flooded the streets to suppress “Day of Rage” protests in Saudi Arabia.
Bedouin leaders in Israel’s Negev desert rejected a government offer to compensate “unrecognized” communities for some 50% of their lands, as a new thrust of Jewish settlement is planned.
Japan’s government has for the first time declared a “nuclear emergency” as diesel backup systems failed at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in the wake of the devastating earthquake.
