Reuters and regional press are reporting that two more countries in the Middle East and North Africa--Kuwait and Djibouti--have been hit by large protests, as well as Syria, where only a small flurry of dissent had been seen during the current wave of demonstrations.
In oil-rich Kuwait, a nation sandwiched between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, more than 1,000 stateless people protested, demanding citizenship on Friday, according to Reuters, and dozens were arrested by police, witnesses said.
Security forces aggressively dispersed the demonstration, using smoke bombs and water cannon, after protesters ignored warnings to leave. There were no reports of casualties.
The stateless people, longtime residents of Kuwait known as Bedouin, are seeking benefits that are available to Kuwaiti nationals --free education, free health care and jobs, as well as citizenship.
Also new on the turmoil map was Djibouti -- a tiny country on the Horn of Africa -- where protesters were calling for their president to step down.
Al-Arabiya, the Dubai-based news network reports that thousands of opposition supporters, mainly students, were gathered to demand the resignation of President Ismael Omar Guelleh.
Guelleh, 63, has been in power since 1999 and amended the constitutional last year to allow him to stand for two more six-year terms.
Amid a tight police deployment, the demonstrators gathered at a stadium with the intention of staying there until their demands are met.
Al-Arabiya also cited an opposition website in the tightly controlled police state of Syria in reporting that hundreds of protesters are demonstrating against security forces after traffic police beat up a young man in the capital's Old City.
The Dubai-based all4Syria.info said Imad Nasab, son of a shop owner in the cobbled commercial strip of Hariqa, was assaulted by traffic police officers, sparking a spontaneous rally on Thursday in solidarity with the victim.
"The Syrian people will not be humiliated," chanted the crowd, according to Al-Arabiya.
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