BY ROHAN PEARCE

The US-led invasion of Iraq has enraged people throughout the Arab nations, jeopardising regimes allied to the US. On March 21, a wave of angry mobilisations swept the Middle East and north Africa.

Defying a ban on protests, 80,000 marched in Jordan. In the capital, Amman, tear gas was used to break up crowds in the predominately Palestinian neighbourhood of Wihdat. In Maan, in Jordan's south, police used tear gas to disperse crowds. The Jordanian government is “covertly” aiding the invasion forces.

In Yemen on March 21, 10,000 people marched. Two protesters were shot by police during an attempt to storm the US embassy. A police officer was also killed and 23 people were injured. The protest was not authorised by the Yemeni government, which is critical of the invasion but has cooperated with the White House's “war on terror”, including allowing the assassination of a suspected al Qaeda member by a US Predator drone on November 3. A poll conducted shortly after the attack found that 93% of respondents objected to the killing and 85% thought Yemen's national sovereignty had been undermined.

In Cairo, Egypt, tens of thousand of protesters protested after Friday prayers on March 21.

Asad AbuKhalil from the University of California's Centre for Middle Eastern Studies told Salon.com's Michelle Goldberg that he expected increased repression from pro-US regimes in the region as they attempt to contain the anti-war mobilisations.

Meanwhile, on March 25, an estimated 500,000 people demonstrated against the US-led attack on Iraq in Damascus, the capital of Syria. Schools, universities and government institutions closed to allow people to take part in the action. Following a cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa Miro renewed Syria's call for “the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of US and British invading troops from Iraqi territory”.

In the Libyan capital of Tripoli, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators chanted anti-US slogans as they marched to the Iraqi embassy. In Lebanon, more than 10,000 people marched in Beirut.

From Green Left Weekly, April 2, 2003.
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