Unrest in North Africa and Middle East may spread to Syria

[The Straight Story]

Unrest in North Africa and Middle East may spread to Syria

What began as a popular uprising that toppled the Tunisian government before spreading into Algeria, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan and, of course, Egypt, may now be headed for Syria.

Opposition movements in Syria are calling for mass protests on Saturday against the rule of President Bashar Al-Assad.

The groups are organizing on Facebook, with several pages promoting protests in Damascus, Aleppo and other cities.

Protest organizers want better living standards, human rights improvements and a greater voice for youth, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based organization that studies and translates news accounts and social media postings.

It's unclear how many people might join the protests. A few thousand people had expressed their support for the movement on the Facebook pages, some of them undoubtedly from outside the country, the research institute said.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/01/31/egypt.protests.where.else/index.html