"Protesters march in Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen, and Egypt" by Ben Hubbard and Karin Laub, Associated Press / February 26, 2011
CAIRO — Hundreds of thousands left mosques and staged protests across the Arab world yesterday, some trying to shake off autocratic rulers and others pressuring embattled leaders to carry out sweeping reforms.
Huge crowds turned out in Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, and Jordan, but with very different goals.
Jordan
A record crowd turned out yesterday in Jordan, where the country’s largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, has warned that citizens’ patience is wearing thin with the government’s slow moves toward reform.
Hamza Mansour, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, called for quicker steps to give Jordanians a bigger say in politics and to have them elect their prime minister — now selected by King Abdullah II. Mansour spoke to 4,000 Jordanian protesters, the largest crowd to take to the streets of downtown Amman for the pro-reform cause.
The leader of the opposition Islamic Action Front told about 4,000 people gathered yesterday in the capital, Amman, that Jordanians were becoming “impatient with the slow and insufficient steps toward reforms.’’
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"Political opponents amplified their calls yesterday for Jordan’s new prime minister to resign and demanded to be brought into a unity government to usher in swift changes to open up the kingdom’s politics.
Jordanians have held protests every Friday for more than two months to demand a greater political voice and action to reduce swelling poverty and unemployment. The weekly demonstrations have largely been peaceful and have not reached the level of violence seen elsewhere in the region, but tempers are flaring.
Also see: Jordanian Jolt
“Enough is enough, our patience has run out,’’ shouted political independent Sufian Tal, reflecting the views of many among the 2,000 Jordanians who took to the streets of their capital Amman yesterday.
The US-allied King Abdullah II, who has not faced calls for his ouster, but protesters are also demanding that Abdullah give up the power to appoint the prime minister and the rest of the Cabinet (AP)."
Related: Jordan's King Losing His Grip
Yeah, he's our guy.
"Thousands of Jordanians took to the streets of the capital yesterday to voice allegiance to King Abdullah II in the biggest show of support for the monarch since opposition protests began calling for him to give up some of his powers.
The self-serving state getting its people out.
The group of 10,000 loyal subjects was nearly triple the size of the opposition protests....
Yesterday’s demonstrators were a mix of loyal Palestinian subjects and Bedouin tribesmen, who form the bedrock of support for the king. They included 23 lawmakers and 3,000 children.
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