Middle East Update: Protests in Egypt, Syria, Yemen: "A 'protest phenomenon' has spread throughout Egypt says the New York Times, with insurance employees, factory workers, and students at Cairo University staging protests to call on the authorities to meet their demands.
Protests have even occurred in some of the most repressive Arab countries, including Syria. On Thursday, some two thousand people in small towns near Damascus joined antigovernment protests on Thursday. These are thought to be a prelude to even bigger protests on Friday in Douma, the working-class suburb of Damascus where 15 were killed last week.
According to the New York Times, uniformed security forces were largely absent and those plainclothes officers who were present seemed nervous:
Ammar Abdulhamid, a Syrian novelist and opposition figure who now lives in Maryland and has helped young activists in Syria to organize, said that security forces had largely withdrawn from the towns where the largest protests had taken place."
Sept 21, 2015 International Day of Peace Celebration at Lyceum University Cavite, Philippines
Ambassador Zara Bayla Juan, Sailing for Peace #PeaceDay
