RELATED:Egyptian troops beat protesters outside cabinet officeMuslim Brotherhood sits at Egypt’s new democratic tableProtests continued throughout the region over the weekend, with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators hitting the streets in several countries to demand long-awaited political reform. The sweeping changes to the Egyptian constitution must still be put to a popular referendum to take effect, but they appear to address many of the demands of protesters who led the 18-day popular uprising that forced Mubarak to step down on February 11. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has been running Egypt’s affairs since then.The legal panel was appointed last week to suggest constitutional amendments that would pave the way for democratic elections later this year. The council has said the military wants to hand power over to a new government and elected president within six months.But the protest movement has been growing impatient, and tens of thousands rallied in Cairo’s Tahrir Square throughout Friday to keep up the pressure on the military. In particular, protest leaders are demanding the dismissal of Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, who was appointed by Mubarak. They are also calling for a more active civilian role in the decisions made by the council.In Bahrain, meanwhile, the king ousted four cabinet members Saturday as a prominent opposition leader returned from exile and urged the country’s rulers to back up reform promises with action. Thousands of demonstrators marched on government buildings in the capital, calling on the prime minister to step down.Two members of the royal family were among the replaced cabinet members, a possible nod to protesters’ complaints that the ruling house of al-Khalifa holds too much control over state levers of power.Bahrain’s prime minister – the king’s uncle, whose more than four decades in power has made him a focus of protesters’ calls for change – remains in his post.The return from self-imposed exile of Hassan Mushaima, a senior Shi’ite figure, could mark a new phase for an anti-government movement in the tiny Persian Gulf nation that is a strategically important American ally. He heads a Shi’ite group known as Haq, which is considered more hard-line than the main Shi’ite political bloc that has helped drive two weeks of protests.He was embraced and kissed by a small group of supporters as he returned Saturday from several months of voluntary exile in London.Mushaima, who had been among a group of Shi’ite activists previously accused of plotting to overthrow Bahrain’s rulers, called on the government to be more responsive to protesters’ demands for far-reaching political reforms.“Dialogue ... is not enough. Promising is not enough. We have to see something on the ground,” he told reporters at the airport. Bahrain’s rulers “have promised before but they did not do anything for the nation of Bahrain,” he said.Thousands of protesters carrying red-and-white national flags and chanting anti-government slogans marched Saturday from the landmark Pearl Square into the Bahraini capital’s government and business district. A few police units deployed near the state compound that includes the prime minister’s office watched as the crowd passed but did nothing to intervene. The rally came a day after Friday’s protests drew hundreds of thousands – an extraordinary turnout in a country of half a million and Bahrain’s largest demonstration yet.Also Friday, the leader of Jordan’s largest opposition group, the Islamic Action Front, warned that the public was becoming “impatient with the slow and insufficient steps toward reforms.” The protest in Amman, the country’s capital, drew 4,000 people and was the largest outpouring yet in two months of unrest in the Hashemite kingdom.
Egypt proposes term limits, competitive elections
Hundreds of thousands rally across Mideast; largest protests yet in Jordan and Bahrain; first reports of unrest in Saudi Arabia.
RELATED:Egyptian troops beat protesters outside cabinet officeMuslim Brotherhood sits at Egypt’s new democratic tableProtests continued throughout the region over the weekend, with hundreds of thousands of demonstrators hitting the streets in several countries to demand long-awaited political reform. The sweeping changes to the Egyptian constitution must still be put to a popular referendum to take effect, but they appear to address many of the demands of protesters who led the 18-day popular uprising that forced Mubarak to step down on February 11. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has been running Egypt’s affairs since then.The legal panel was appointed last week to suggest constitutional amendments that would pave the way for democratic elections later this year. The council has said the military wants to hand power over to a new government and elected president within six months.But the protest movement has been growing impatient, and tens of thousands rallied in Cairo’s Tahrir Square throughout Friday to keep up the pressure on the military. In particular, protest leaders are demanding the dismissal of Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, who was appointed by Mubarak. They are also calling for a more active civilian role in the decisions made by the council.In Bahrain, meanwhile, the king ousted four cabinet members Saturday as a prominent opposition leader returned from exile and urged the country’s rulers to back up reform promises with action. Thousands of demonstrators marched on government buildings in the capital, calling on the prime minister to step down.Two members of the royal family were among the replaced cabinet members, a possible nod to protesters’ complaints that the ruling house of al-Khalifa holds too much control over state levers of power.Bahrain’s prime minister – the king’s uncle, whose more than four decades in power has made him a focus of protesters’ calls for change – remains in his post.The return from self-imposed exile of Hassan Mushaima, a senior Shi’ite figure, could mark a new phase for an anti-government movement in the tiny Persian Gulf nation that is a strategically important American ally. He heads a Shi’ite group known as Haq, which is considered more hard-line than the main Shi’ite political bloc that has helped drive two weeks of protests.He was embraced and kissed by a small group of supporters as he returned Saturday from several months of voluntary exile in London.Mushaima, who had been among a group of Shi’ite activists previously accused of plotting to overthrow Bahrain’s rulers, called on the government to be more responsive to protesters’ demands for far-reaching political reforms.“Dialogue ... is not enough. Promising is not enough. We have to see something on the ground,” he told reporters at the airport. Bahrain’s rulers “have promised before but they did not do anything for the nation of Bahrain,” he said.Thousands of protesters carrying red-and-white national flags and chanting anti-government slogans marched Saturday from the landmark Pearl Square into the Bahraini capital’s government and business district. A few police units deployed near the state compound that includes the prime minister’s office watched as the crowd passed but did nothing to intervene. The rally came a day after Friday’s protests drew hundreds of thousands – an extraordinary turnout in a country of half a million and Bahrain’s largest demonstration yet.Also Friday, the leader of Jordan’s largest opposition group, the Islamic Action Front, warned that the public was becoming “impatient with the slow and insufficient steps toward reforms.” The protest in Amman, the country’s capital, drew 4,000 people and was the largest outpouring yet in two months of unrest in the Hashemite kingdom.