The Tunisian revolution has sparked chaos in Egypt and Lebanon. Last week several people set themselves on fire outside government buildings in an effort to emulate the self-immolation of a Tunisian vegetable who may have sparked a revolution.

Today, thousands of anti-government protesters clashed with riot police in Cairo, demanding the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak and an end to the nation’s poverty, while those in Lebanon violently protested the appointment of Saad Hariri.

The protests began peacefully with thousands of people praying in Cairo’s Tahrir square. According to the Daily Mail, police showed an unusual level of restraint in what appeared to be a concerted government effort not to provoke a Tunisia-like mass revolt. However, as the crowds began, to build police changed their tactics and the largest protests in Egypt’s history soon turned violent.

Police attacked protesters with water canons, batons, and tear gas. While demonstrators retaliated by forcing the driver of a water canon out of vehicle and threw rocks.

Thousands also marched in Alexandria against Mubarak’s government on what has been dubbed a “Day of Rage.”

The organizers of the protests said it was a “day of revolution against torture, poverty, corruption and unemployment.” A call for rallies was sent out on Facebook and Twitter, with 90,000 people saying they would attend the protests which aptly coincided with a national holiday honoring Egyptian police.

The protests show the growing resentment in an country that has reached it’s boiling point. Egyptians have long been upset with their government, which has done little to quell the country’s widespread poverty and unemployment and continues to perpetuate fraud in it’s elections.

Almost half of Egypt’s 80-million-strong population live under or just above the poverty line set by the United Nations at $2 a day, and poor-quality education, health care, and high unemployment have left large numbers deprived of basic needs.

Demonstrators could also be seen carrying banners denouncing Mubarak, causing many people to wonder if he will run again for president later this year or perhaps have his son run. The protesters were most likely hoping to the president out of office as the Tunisia revolts did on January 14.

Angry protests were also sparked in Lebanon, after a prime minister backed by pro-Iranian Hezbollah was appointed. The Daily Mail reported:

Billionaire businessman and former premier Najib Mikati, Hezbollah’s chosen candidate, moved immediately to try and reassure the country declaring: ‘My hand is extended to all Lebanese, Muslims and Christians, in order to build and not to destroy.’

But thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of major cities on what they also called a ‘day of rage’, accusing Hebzbollah of engineering the collapse of the previous unity government of outgoing Premier Saad Hariri.

The collapse was orchestrated after a fight over a UN tribunal investigating the 2005 murder of Hariri’s father, Rafik. Hariri refused to renounce the UN inquiry, which is said to have implicated senior Hezbollah figures in the murder. Hezbollah said the investigation and its conclusions were politically motivated.

Lebanese are also wary of the Hezbollah because they were behind the kidnapping of Western hostages, including Terry Waite and John McCarthy, in the 1980s and an attack on United States marines in Beirut that killed 241.

The vote caps the Shia organisation’s steady rise over the past few decades from a resistance group fighting Israel to Lebanon’s most powerful military and political force.The shift in the balance of power drew warnings from the U.S. that its support for Lebanon could be in jeopardy, demonstrating the risks of international isolation if Hezbollah pushes too far.

Many are worried a political crisis like this could re-ignite fighting similar to the Shiite-Sunni street clashes in Beirut in 2008 that killed 81 people. The rise of Hezbollah is also likely to raise tensions between Lebanon and Israel, who fought a short and devastating war with the Hezbollah in 2006.

Despite opposition from the Hariri camp, Mr Mikati is seen as a relatively neutral choice who enjoys good relations with both Syrian President Bashar Assad and Mr Hariri, whose bloc has insisted it will not join a government led by a Hezbollah-backed candidate, which could mean months of political deadlock ahead in Lebanon.

The largest protests took place in Tripoli, where medical sources say 20 people were treated for injuries and protesters set fire a Arab television channel’s satellite truck.

Hariri tried to calm the crowds by saying demonstrations of violence are unacceptable: “You are angry but you are responsible people.”

‘Sunni blood is boiling’ chanted protesters in Tripoli, urging Mr Mikati, a Sunni Muslim, to withdraw his nomination and waving flags of Mr Hariri’s Future Movement which says it will not serve in any government dominated by the militant Shi’ite group.

We thought the Middle East couldn’t get any worse, but if these events tell us anything, more unrest is likely to come. Perhaps the police should start using Twitter and Facebook to anticipate another riot.

That’s if the Egyptian government doesn’t shut down Facebook and Twitter again.

MOST RECENT BY HVnews:

• California Woman: 'I Lost My Limbs After 5 Years of Butt Injections'
• Someone Just Robbed a Bank 5 Blocks From Obama's Barnard Speech
• Haiti Can Thank U.N. Peacekeepers For Bringing Cholera Plague to Hispaniola