Africa, Protest | featured news

"I was not sure I was going to live," says Derrik Sweeney after arriving in St. Louis. He and two others had been arrested in Cairo and accused of throwing firebombs. Three American college students detained for several days in Egypt as deadly protests swept Cairo have flown home to freedom, one describing an ordeal so terrifying he wasn't sure he would survive it.

The killing of an unarmed demonstrator by the security police on Saturday threatened to stir up new protests here as Egypt’s military rulers and political parties raced to prepare for potential chaos surrounding the parliamentary elections scheduled to start on Monday.

DUBAI (Reuters) - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed a Gulf initiative on Wednesday to hand over power to his deputy as part of a proposal to end months of protests that have pushed the Arab country to the brink of civil war.

Clashes erupted between riot police and protesters in Cairo's Tahrir square Saturday after police dispersed a sit-in by demonstrators demanding the ruling military transfer power swiftly to a civilian government.

Thousands of Egyptians converged on Cairo's Tahrir Square on Friday to demand reforms in a turnout dubbed "correcting the path of the revolution."

Algeria on Thursday lifted a 19-year-old state of emergency in a concession to the opposition designed to keep out a wave of uprisings sweeping the Arab world.

Libyan protesters celebrated in the streets of Benghazi on Monday, claiming control of the country's second largest city after bloody fighting, and anti-government unrest spread to the capital with clashes in Tripoli's main square for the first time. Moammar Gadhafi's son vowed that his father and security forces would fight "until the last bullet."...

Witnesses say security forces fired on protesters for the second consecutive day in Ivory Coast's biggest city, following a call for an "Egypt-style" uprising to depose sitting president Laurent Gbagbo.

Libyan security forces open fired on mourners at a funeral for anti-government protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi again Sunday, a day after commandos and foreign mercenaries loyal to longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi pummeled demonstrators with assault rifles and other heavy weaponry as well as knives.

As protests returned to Libya’s second city, a deadly cycle was emerging: Security forces fire on funeral marches, killing more protesters, creating more funerals.