Demonstrators pack public squares. Flames shoot into the air. Tear gas sends crowds scrambling. Bodies are carried from the streets.
Dramatic scenes are unfolding during anti-government protests worldwide.
The images are striking, and things are heating up quickly. What's happening on the ground?
Here's a cheat-sheet guide to the protests in Ukraine, Venezuela, Thailand, Bangladesh and Brazil.
UKRAINE
! What are the protesters' demands?
Who's a better economic ally, Europe or Russia? That's the key issue at the heart of Ukraine's protests.Demonstrators want the government to forge closer ties with Europe and turn away from Russia.
But the dispute is also about power. Many in the opposition have called for the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych and the ordering of new elections. And both on the streets and in parliament, they've also pushed to alter the government's overall power structure, feeling that too much of it rests with Yanukovych and not enough with parliament.
! Who's protesting?
An opposition coalition has been leading the charge against Yanukovych and his allies.
On CNN iReport, protesters and onlookers have shared more than 100 photos and videos of clashes between demonstrators and police. The nighttime images are especially striking – figures aresilhouetted against large bonfires set alight in the streets.
! When did the demonstrations start?
In November, thousands spilled onto the streets after Yanukovych did a U-turn over a trade pact with the European Union that had been years in the making – with Yanukovych favoring closer relations with Russia instead.
! What's the latest?
Ukraine is far from out of the woods. Talk of secession by the Crimea and the country's east is still doing the rounds and one scenario being discussed is the annexation of Crimea by Russia. This would be a repeat performance of the occupation by Russian forces of Abkhazia in 2008 and could lead to an alarming confrontation between Moscow and whatever future government emerges in Kiev. Yesterday Russian "delegates" were in Kharkiv as Crimean political figures called for "protection". It is possible the threat of a fracturing Ukraine is being deliberately stage-managed. Much will hinge on whether Russia stays on the sidelines. While the opposition is now pushing for earlier elections than had been envisaged in the EU-brokered deal to end the violence, the May elections being asked for by some might exacerbate the crisis.
! 01.03.2014
! > Vladimir Putin made an appeal to the Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.The full text of the document:
"Due to the extraordinary situation in Ukraine, threatening the lives of citizens of the Russian Federation , our compatriots , the personnel of the military contingent of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation located in accordance with the international agreement on the territory of Ukraine ( Autonomous Republic of Crimea ) , on the basis of paragraph " d " part 1 of Article 102 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation am submitting to the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation appeal for use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the territory of Ukraine to the normalization of the political situation in this country. "
VENEZUELA
! What are the protesters' demands?
Demonstrators are demanding better security, an end to goods shortages and protected freedom of speech.
They blame Venezuela's government, led by President Nicolas Maduro, for those problems. Maduro and other officials blame the opposition for the country's security and economic problems.
! Who's protesting?
Many demonstrators across the country are students. Prominent opposition politicians have also led protests and joined marches.
Since February 13, more than 1,100 images have been uploaded to iReport, CNN's user-generated platform. Many of the videos and photos are gruesome and depict violent scenes between demonstrators and police.
! When did the demonstrations start?
On February 2nd, students from Universidad de los Andes in San Cristobal went out into the streets. Due to the heavy-handed response by the authorities, the protests quickly gained support from students elsewhere and now have spread to many other parts of civil society especially – but not only – in the middle class. Many large and several smaller cities are now seeing protests every day.
! What's the latest?
As throngs of supporters chanted their support, opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez turned himself in to authorities Tuesday.
Lopez remained in a military prison Thursday as the government pressed terrorism and murder charges against him, his wife said. Lopez has denied the charges, which are connected with violence during the protests.
Maduro, meanwhile, has called members of the opposition fascists and compared them to an infection that needs to be cured. Officials have also accused the United States of plotting to destabilize the government.
THAILAND
! What are the protesters' demands?
Protesters in Bangkok have been calling for months for the ouster of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who they allege is a puppet of her billionaire brother, the deposed, exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
! Who's protesting?
Opposition to Thaksin and Yingluck is strongest among the urban elites and middle class. That's why the demonstrations have been concentrated in Bangkok. The protesters want to replace Yingluck's government with an unelected "people's council" to see through electoral and political changes.
Thailand residents and visitors have shared dozens of stories of unrest on CNN iReport over the past month. The latest approved photos show demonstrators sleeping in the streets in Bangkok as a form of peaceful protest.
! When did the demonstrations start?
Protests began in November after Yingluck's government tried to pass an amnesty bill that would have paved the way for her brother's return to the political fray.
! What's the latest?
Deadly violence erupted in the heart of Bangkok on Tuesday asanti-government protesters clashed with police, and the country's anti-corruption commission filed charges against the Prime Minister.
BANGLADESH
! The protests began last year with people demanding the death penalty for a Muslim cleric collaborating with the Pakistani army and engaging in widespread communal violence against minority Hindus in the period of unrest before the Bangladeshi liberation war of 1971. The man was the leader of the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, a key alliance partner of the center-right Bangladesh National Party, the main opposition in the Assembly. Later demands included banning of the Jamaat from political activity. In response to the protests, the incumbent center-left Awami League government fast-tracked his (and other war criminals') trial through the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, which promptly converted his previous life imprisonment sentence into the death penalty. He was hanged in December last year.
This decision gave rise to another protest movement, with Islamist parties protesting unfair (in their eyes) prosecution of their leaders and the government colluding with the protestors. Flash-points when the verdict was announced and when the sentence was carried out resulted in especially brutal violence on the streets of Dhaka and widespread deaths (around 60 or so each time).
! Coupled with this, the main opposition and their Islamist allies launched a series of strikes and ground civil machinery to a halt for a total of eighty five days last year. Their demands: the ruling government resign and the Bangladeshi General Election in January 2014 be held under the oversight of a neutral caretaker government of technocrats. The ruling party refused to accede to their demands and so the opposition refused to contest 154 out of the total 300 seats in the assembly, giving the ruling party a simple majority even before polling happened. The Awami League finished with 230 seats in the assembly with the second party on ~30.
! Unrest continues.
BRAZIL
! After protests that took place in July 2013 , Rousseff promised 5 things to Brazil .
! political reform
tax reform
Improvement in public health
Improvement in public education
Improvement in public transport
! The only thing that really improved was the last , with the creation of specific new routes for buses and subways stations. But the others were not resolved or the government gave a lame excuse , saying that it is solving . With very dubious tactics .
! Starting with " more doctors " program , a government initiative to import doctors from Cuba to attend hospitals without doctors , full of sick people and no equipment in Brazil . In exchange , Brazil has built a harbor in Cuba . On education, Dilma pointed the pre-salt (one oil well found in the depths of the Brazilian coast), claimed that 70% of the profit earned from the sale of royalties will be invested in education, the other 30% will be in transport.
! About the "Prisão de Pedrinhas' in the state of Maranhão, every day several inmates kill other inmates and gang leaders who are inside the prison can use cell phones to control bandits who are out. Lately, vandals are torching buses (and people inside) to claim rights of prisoners.
! Finally the convicts of the case "monthly allowance" were tried, some got 30 years in prison, the problem is that, due to loopholes in the laws of Brazil and the ingenuity of the people (offering to pay the fine, which reaches millions of reais), most the convicts have had their penalty reduced.
! With the possibility of a racist and homophobic man to become the new leader of the human rights commission, the population is not happy and is doing several protests.
! The Black Bloc is making several attacks on banks and shops. The police banned the use of masks at protests, and are arresting everybody who wears a mask at a protest.
! With the return of the militia and its philosophy of "justice with their own hands" in rio de janeiro, they are killing and torturing people in broad day.
! And everything about the World Cup and the Olympics, people say that these events will actually harm Brazil because the country has already spent too much with these events and some stages are still not done. Besides not investing in more important things like education, transport and health.
! With the purchase of votes, called "family allowance" which is nothing more than an allowance for poor families, the dictatorship of the PT is far from over.
! With government support, the system of quotas for Afro-descendants to colleges and government jobs were created. Reserving 20% of seats colleges and government jobs for black people.