Libya has become the latest country involved in a string of protests sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East has begun in Libya. As Egypt manages to bring civil discourse under control, clashes between demonstrators and police in Libya’s coastal city of Benghazi erupt.

It is understood that the main cause for the protest in Libya today was the earlier detention of Fathi Terbil, a lawyer and human rights activist.

The protest appears to be on the order of around 200 people, among which there were a few arrested, and it is not clear at this stage whether the political unrest is likely to reach the levels seen in both Egypt and Tunisia in the last month. Alongside the latter two well-publicized cases, several other countries have seen civilians overtly display their contempt for their respective governments, including Iran, Bahrain, Algeria, Syria and Yemen.

In the latter country, a small protest outside a University began as a call for education reforms but quickly took a general anti-governmental demonstration and grew in size. It marks the sixth day of such rallying among civilians, although during infrequent scuffles it has been reported that no major injuries have occurred.

Bahrain’s protests have been mostly peaceful but massive in their scope as thousands marched during Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima’s funeral, a protester who was killed in an earlier clash between civilians and state authorities.

Tunisia has lifted its curfew, put in place since rioting broke out last month, but an official state of emergency has been left in place until further notice.

Reported by Claire Blackthorne.

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