In a long-awaited public address, President Bashar Assad blamed foreign conspiracies for Syria’s unrest, while calling hundreds of thousands of his supporters to the streets in a massive show of force.
Hundreds of thousands again took to the streets in Yemen to demand the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, as protesters charged official complicity in a deadly blast at a munitions plant that authorities blamed on al-Qaeda.
Activists for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia decried the regime’s decision to keep a voting ban in place at a time when Arab governments are taking steps to avert pro-democracy uprisings.
Clashes are reported from Yemen between the Republican Guard and army units that have declared for the revolution, as security forces again fired on protesters in Syria. Street clashes are also reported in Jordan.
Yemen’s Parliament enacted several emergency measures at the request of President Ali Abdullah Saleh in an effort to end anti-government protests—but opposition lawmakers rejected the vote as illegal and fraudulent.
Syrian security forces killed 15 people in the city of Deraa, witnesses and rights activists said. Seven were killed when security personnel fired on a group of protesters that gathered after dawn prayers outside al-Omari mosque.
Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalif announced that “a foreign plot” against the small Gulf state has been foiled, while opposition leaders charged that Washington had given the regime a “green light” for repression.
Tanks were deployed in the Yemeni capital, surrounding the presidential palace and defense ministry, as top generals and tribal leaders pledged allegiance to the “revolution” against President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Yemen declared a state of emergency as Syrian security forces again fired on demonstrators, killing at least one. Thousands meanwhile marched for democratic reform in Casablanca, Rabat and other cities across Morocco.
At least five were killed in clashes between protesters and security forces in the Syrian city of Deraa. Protests are also reported from Homs and Baniyas, and security forces reportedly broke up a demonstration in Damascus.
A massacre is reported from Yemen, as armed regime loyalists opened fire on protesters in a square they have been occupying at Sanaa University, killing at least 32 and leaving some 200 wounded.
Some 200 Syrians defied a state emergency in place since 1963 to gather in Damascus to demand a political opening, chanting “God, Syria, liberty” and “Syrians, where are you?”
