Throughout the Middle East, as citizens have taken to the streets to protest a range of woes -- rising food prices, inflamed religious tensions, and corrupt political leadership -- it's becoming more clear that Arab regimes are, as blogger March Lynch says, "on edge."
Here, the father of 23-year-old Abdelfatah Akresh, who was killed during clashes in the town of Bou-Ismael, west of Algiers, mourns his son's death. "Algerian society has been in a permanent state of moral revolt against the regime for the last four or five years," wrote Hugh Roberts for Foreign Policy's Middle East Channel."
In Algeria, the population has been rioting for days over soaring food costs and unemployment. According to the General Union of Algerian Traders and Artisans, the cost of basic foodstuffs -- particularly sugar and oil -- has risen 20 to 30 percent since Jan. 1. Here, a man stands outside a market in the capital of Algiers holding plastic bags full of groceries.
An Algerian man armed with a stick watches police gather in central Oran, west of Algiers. "Those behind the rise in basic food items have been greedy merchants," said Algerian Trade Minister Mustafa Bin Badeh.
Algerian youth riot in the Amel district of Oran, where they stoned a police station and destroyed cars in the streets. Algeria's protests have thus far left five people dead, hundreds wounded and 1,000 arrested. "They are burning tires, breaking into buildings, breaking everything," said journalist Lania Tagzout of the demonstrators. "We can hear the screams."
Algeria isn't the only country in North Africa being wracked by unrest. In neighboring Tunisia, the suicide of a 26-year-old unemployed man in Sidi Bouzid, south of Tunis, sparked protests against unemployment and poor living conditions that only appear to be getting worse. Twenty-three people have been killed as the violence reached the capital, and the government has shut down all high schools and universities in an attempt to quell the unrest. Here, Tunisians shout slogans during a demonstration in Tunis.
As the demonstrations continue, the line between protesting economic conditions and Tunisia's ruling regime has become fuzzier. The demonstrations have captured the attention of a "wide cross-section of Tunisian society, reflecting discontent with inequality and autocratic leaders." Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali referred to the protests as "terrorist acts." The European Union condemned the state's crackdown and warned that strengthening relations with Tunisia depended on its respect for human rights. Here, a woman cries as she waits with fellow Tunisians to meet the governor in Sidi Bouzid.
A Tunisian demonstrator holds a rock during clashes between security forces and protestors in Regueb, near Sidi Bouzid. Another round of clashes broke out on Jan. 10 in Tunisia, killing four more people. Christopher Alexander wrote for the Middle East Channel that the protests constitute "the most dramatic wave of social unrest in Tunisia since the 1980s."
A New Year's Day bombing at a Coptic church in Egypt killed 21 people and sparked a wave of protests between security forces and Egyptian Copts. Last week, both Muslims and Christians partook in demonstrations to condemn the New Year's Eve attack.
Not all of the demonstrated have exacerbated the divisions in the Middle East. Muslim and Christian activists protested together in solidarity following the New Year's Day bombing. Egyptian Muslims are said to have acted as "human shields" during a Coptic Christmas mass. Demonstrators hold signs with the cross and the crescent next to each other, over a slogan that reads: "One homeland...one people."
In Kuwait, the parliamentary opposition recently attempted to oust Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser al-Ahmad al-Sabah. Here, Abdullah al-Mutairi demonstrates in front of Kuwait's National Assembly, while on a hunger strike in protest of the opposition's effort. The prime minister narrowly survived the confidence vote last week.
This was the latest episode of what Kristin Smith Diwan, writing for 's Middle East Channel, calls a "tumultuous" five years, as the country has seen six different governments and three different elections. st1:* { BEHAVIOR: url(#ieooui) }Here, supporters wave national flags in support of Kuwait's prime minister outside the parliament in Kuwait City last month. Diwan notes that Kuwait's "incomplete constitutional monarchy, unrecognized political parties, [and] pervasive private interests in media" have been responsible for aggravating tensions in the country.
