In
Jordan, thousands of demonstrators in the southern town of Maan took to
the streets to protest the U.S.-led war of aggression on Iraq, witnesses
said.
"After
the Friday prayers, thousands of people took to the streets to voice
their support for Iraq despite a ban on public gatherings in the town,
and clashed with the security forces," one witness said.
"The
police fired tear gas grenades to disperse the protestors while the
demonstrators rained stones on them," another witness said.
A
Maan resident later said that after initial "tension", police
pulled back from the city center towards the main roads leading to town
in a bid to help restore calm.
"Thousands
of worshippers emerged from the five Maan mosques, including the Grand
Mosque, which can accommodate 3,000 people, shouting slogans of support
for Iraq and accusing Arab regimes of treachery," the resident
said.
"With
our blood and our soul we will support you, Saddam," was the slogan
on everyone's lips, as the protestors paid tribute to Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein, the sources said.
And
they vented their anger at Arab governments, accusing them of being
"valets of the United States" which along with Britain are
waging a war of aggression on neighboring Iraq.
Hundreds
of people also took to the streets of the Jordanian capital, Amman, and
the northern city of Irbid, after the Friday prayers despite a
government ban on unauthorized street protests.
The
protests were relatively peaceful but minor scuffles broke out when
club-toting riot police fired tear gas grenades to push back more than
1,000 demonstrators who tried to march on the Israeli embassy in Amman.
Around
200 riot police cordoned off the streets leading to Kaluti mosque, which
lies a few blocks away from the Israeli embassy, to contain the protest.
"Where
are the Arab armies?" Asked the demonstrators, including many
veiled women and children.
"The
United States is the head of the serpent," they stressed.
One
man who insisted on identifying himself as "Muslim, the son of a
Muslim", told reporters the United States and Britain "are
criminals who created all the problems in the Middle East".
"We
are very angry," he said, accusing the United States of launching
war on Iraq because "they hate Islam and nothing else."
Palestinians
Denounce Pro-west Arab Leaders
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Palestinians
carry Hamas and Iraqi flags during a march in Gaza city
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In
the West Bank, thousands of Palestinians protested in the streets after
the Friday prayers in support of Iraq and against the U.S.-led war,
denouncing pro-west Arab leaders.
In
Nablus, some 5,000 people marched through the streets after the Israeli
occupation army lifted the curfew for the day, chanting slogans such as
"America, the mother of terrorism," and "The head of the
snake."
They
also shouted nostalgic slogans for the late Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel
Nasser.
"Gamal
Abdel Nasser, where are you," chanted the crowd.
In
the Palestinian towns of Tulkarem and Jenin, just to the south 5,000 and
3,000 people marched through the streets shouting support for Iraq and
attacking the Arab leaders.
Some
200 people also demonstrated against the war in Bethlehem in the
southern West Bank.
In
occupied Jerusalem, some 70 Palestinians held a small anti-war
demonstration, police said.
Tear
Gas In Bahrain
In
Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, police used tear gas to
break up a demonstration Friday of around 300 youths in front of the
U.S. embassy in Manama.
Police
fired at least 10 tear gas canisters at the group that was trying to
approach the embassy and throw stones at it in protest at the U.S.-led
war on Iraq.
"Death
to America!" chanted the crowd, also demanding that the Bahraini
government close the U.S. mission.
The
protest took place despite an appeal for calm issued Thursday by
Bahrain's King Hamad bin Eissa.
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