disperse
a sit-in in one of the city's main squares. There was also trouble in the northern coastal city of Latakia.
In Germany, protesters have staged what they said was the country's biggest-ever demonstration against nuclear power. About 200,000 people took part in four cities. Nuclear energy has become a major political issue in Germany since the crisis in Japan and could influence a big regional election on Sunday. Here's Sam Wilson of our Europe desk.
Protesters said they wanted Germany's nuclear plants
switched off
for good. They are not convinced by Chancellor Angela Merkel's extra safety checks on German reactors, believing it's a political
manoeuvre
to influence the critical state election in Baden-Württemberg. Her party's held the southern state for six decades, but could lose it to the Green Party amid a surge of anti-nuclear sentiment, a result that would leave her politically weakened.
The United Nations nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, has sent extra teams to Japan where the nuclear plant wrecked in the earthquake and tsunami remains unstable. The IAEA said there appeared to be high levels of contamination in the soil and
vegetation
in the Fukushima prefecture. A Japanese government spokesman again urged the company running the reactor to provide
accurate
information more promptly after criticism of the company's safety procedures.
World News from the BBC