(9 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)
The protests are spreading across the Middle East. What started in Tunisia and spread to Egypt, Iran, Yemen, Libya and Bahrain. Two protesters were killed in Manama, Bahrain as heavily armed police made an early morning raid on sleeping unarmed protesters in Pearl Square. Using tear gas and percussion grenades, many men, women and children were overcome and trampled in the chaos. Two people were reported killed and hundreds are in hospitals. In Libya protesters are preparing for a “day of rage” against the 40 year old repressive regime of Muammar Gaddafi. Two protesters were reported killed there yesterday
The best English reporting is coming from Al Jazeera with a Live Blog from Bahrain
The Guardian also continues with live updates from the region.
Bahrain’s quiet anger turns to rage
Demonstrators vow to avenge three men killed by police during a pre-dawn raid on their base camp in the centre of the capital
The demonstrators have vowed to avenge three men killed by riot police during a pre-dawn raid on their base camp in the centre of the capital. The raid left their tent city in ruins and temporarily destroyed hopes of a peaceful change. They had spent the day regrouping inside the grounds of the hospital after being evicted from the Pearl Roundabout by up to 500 officers who attacked them shortly after 3.15am on Thursday.
Their numbers had grown to around 4,000 by late afternoon, rallied by calls through social media and by a restless middle class, which until now had not been prominent in protests.
Violent response to Bahrain protest
Troops and tanks lock down capital of Manama after police smash into demonstrators in pre-dawn assault, killing four.
Troops and tanks have locked down the Bahraini capital of Manama on Thursday after riot police swinging clubs and firing tear gas smashed into demonstrators in a pre-dawn assault, killing at least four people.
Hours after the attack on Manama’s main Pearl Roundabout, the military announced a ban on gatherings, saying on state TV that it had “key parts” of the capital under its control.
Khalid Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s foreign minister, justified the crackdown as necessary because the demonstrators were “polarising the country” and pushing it to the “brink of the sectarian abyss”.
Speaking to reporters after meeting with his Gulf counterparts, he also said the violence was “regrettable”. Two people had died in police firing on the protesters prior to Thursday’s deadly police raid.
Bahrain uses UK-supplied weapons in protest crackdown
MoD to review arms export licences after Bahrain clears protesters with UK-made crowd-controls weapons such as teargas and stun grenades
The British government has launched a review of arms exports to Bahrain after it emerged that the country’s security forces were supplied with weapons by the United Kingdom.
After a bloody crackdown in the capital, Manama, left up to five people dead and more than 100 injured, Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said the government will “urgently revoke licences if we judge that they are no longer in line with the [UK and European Union] criteria”.
Bahrain security forces accused of deliberately recruiting foreign nationals
Al Khalifa regime hires non-native Sunni Muslims in concerted effort to swing balance in Shia-majority Bahrain, say analysts
Bahrain’s security forces are the backbone of the Al Khalifa regime, now facing unprecedented unrest after overnight shootings. But large numbers of their personnel are recruited from other countries, including Jordan, Pakistan and Yemen.
Tanks and troops from Saudi Arabia were also reported to have been deployed in support of Bahraini forces.
Precise numbers are a closely guarded secret, but in recent years the Manama government has made a concerted effort to recruit non-native Sunni Muslims as part of an attempt to swing the demographic balance against the Shia majority – who make up around 65% of the population of 1 million.
Libya’s day of rage met by bullets and loyalists
Gaddafi supporters clash with protesters in al-Bayda and Benghazi on the second day of unrest in the country
Libya’s government has brought out its supporters to express their loyalty to try to stifle a planned “day of rage”, but sporadic violence has continued in the east of the country, far from Tripoli.
Unconfirmed reports said up to 15 people have now died in the unrest.
Clashes were reported for a second day between supporters of Muammar Gaddafi and the relatives of two men killed during a protest in al-Bayda on Wednesday, when unrest also erupted in Benghazi, Libya’s second city and opposition stronghold.
Snipers were said to have killed four more protesters in Ajdabiya, south of Benghazi, where six more dead were reported by the Libya al-Yawm news website. “There are thousands of people in the centre of town, and it is spreading, and they are being repressed,” said Ramadan Jarbou, a leading local journalist.
Three former ministers close to Mubarak held on suspicion of wasting public funds in an attempt to calm public outrage.
An Egyptian prosecutor on Thursday ordered the detention of three ex-ministers and a prominent businessman pending
trial on suspicion of wasting public funds.The prosecutor dealing with financial crimes said former Interior Minister Habib el-Adli, former Tourism Minister Zuhair Garana, former Housing Minister Ahmed el-Maghrabi and steel magnate Ahmed Ezz must be held for 15 days.
All four have denied any wrongdoing.
ElBaradei criticizes Egypt’s military rulers
Egypt’s new military rulers came under criticism Thursday from a leading democracy advocate as well as from youth and women’s groups for what they say is a failure to make decisions openly and include a larger segment of society.
Five days after ousting Hosni Mubarak in a popular uprising, Egyptians continued protests and strikes over a host of grievances from paltry wages to toxic-waste dumping. They defied the second warning in three days from the ruling Armed Forces Supreme Council to halt all labor unrest at a time when the economy is staggering.
The caretaker government also gave its first estimate of the death toll in the 18-day uprising. Health Minister Ahmed Sameh Farid said at least 365 civilians died according to a preliminary count that does not include police or prisoners
Yemen clerics urge unity government
Influential group of clerics demand transitional unity government, as two demonstrators are shot in continuing violence.
A group of senior clerics in Yemen has called for the formation of a national unity government in order to save the country from chaos.
The influential figures are demanding a transitional unity government that would see the opposition represented in key ministries, followed by elections in six months.
They say the move would place Yemen in the same situation as Egypt and Tunisia, without suffering bloodshed.
Their comments on Thursday came amid fresh clashes between thousands of pro- and anti-government protesters in Sanaa, the capital.
Armoured vehicles move towards central Manama after police storm protest site in roundabout, killing at least two.
Sporadic clashes have broken out in the Bahraini capital of Manama, hours after riot police attacked a makeshift encampment of pro-reform protesters in the centre of the city, killing at least two and injuring dozens of others.
An Al Jazeera correspondent, who cannot be named for security reasons, said on Thursday that “clashes were no longer limited to one place…they are now spread out in different parts of the city”.
There were also reports of dozens of armoured vehicles moving towards the Pearl Roundabout, the protest site that was raided by the riot police.
Heavily-armed police stormed the traffic circle while the protesters camping overnight were asleep.
‘Day of rage’ planned in Libya
Online activists have called for countrywide protests on Thursday, seeking an end to Muammar Gaddafi’s long rule.
Protesters in Libya are set to take to the streets for a “day of rage,” inspired by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.
Libya has been tightly controlled for over 40 years by Muammar Gaddafi, who is now Africa’s longest-serving leader. And rights groups warned of a possible crackdown by security forces on Thursday’s planned protests.
Thursday is the anniversary of clashes on February 17, 2006, in the country’s second largest city of Benghazi when security forces killed several protesters who were attacking the city’s Italian consulate.
At least two people were killed in clashes between Libyan security forces and demonstrators on Wednesday, in the town of al-Baida, east of Benghazi.
Egyptians defy call to end strikes
Airport and textile workers among those refusing to heed military’s appeal not to protest.
Emboldened by the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak last week, Egyptians have been airing grievances over issues ranging from low wages to police brutality and corruption.
Workers in banking, transport, oil, tourism, textiles, state-owned media and government bodies are striking to demand higher wages and better conditions, said Kamal Abbas of the Centre for Trade Union and Workers’ Services.
Staff at Cairo airport and in the textile industry were among those who on Wednesday defied the call by Egypt’s new military rulers to stop all protests.
While hundreds of airport employees protested inside the arrivals terminal for better wages and health coverage, in the industrial Nile Delta city of Mahallah al-Koubra, more than 12,000 workers at a state-owned textile factory went on strike over pay and calls for an investigation into alleged corruption at the factory.
In Port Said, a coastal city at the northern tip of the Suez Canal, about 1,000 people demonstrated to demand that a chemical factory be closed because it was dumping waste in a lake near the city.
Protesters killed in Yemen clashes
Police shoot dead two in Yemen’s main southern city of Aden, while clashes erupt for the sixth straight day in Sanaa.
Police shot and killed two protesters in Yemen’s main southern city of Aden, medics said, while unrest in the capital Sanaa against the rule of Ali Abdullah Saleh, the president, continued for a sixth straight day.
Mohammed Ali Alwani, 21, was shot dead after clashes broke out between police and demonstrators, his father said. The other victim has not yet been identified.
Police in Aden fired shots into the air to try to break up around 500 protesters. Medics said one of the victims had been hit in the back.
The demonstrators hurled stones at police, set tyres and vehicles on fire and stormed a municipal building where heavy gunfire was heard.
Security forces, heavily deployed in Aden, arrested at least four people as they fired warning shots and tear gas to disperse protesters who had gathered at the Al-Ruweishat bus station in the Al-Mansura neighbourhood of Aden.
Iran funeral triggers new clashes
Government supporters and opposition activists clash at funeral procession for student killed in Tehran.
Clashes have broken out between supporters of the Iranian government and apparent members of the opposition at the funeral for a student killed in recent protests, state television has reported.
“Students and people participating in the funeral of martyr Sane’e Zhale in Tehran Fine Arts University are clashing with a few apparently from the sedition movement,” the website of broadcaster Irib said on Wednesday.
Zhaleh was shot dead during an opposition rally in Tehran, the capital, on Monday, a killing the government blamed on anti-government protesters. But opposition groups say it was carried out by security forces.
The violence broke out during the funeral procession from the art faculty at Tehran university, where Zhaleh was a student, Irib said.
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