Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: News Seeps Out of Deaths
Friday, October 14, 2011 at 14:49 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran See also, Syria Video Special: Friday's Protests Around the Country
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Thursday's Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Victors as Abusers?
2027 GMT: A contact in Bahrain clarifies the "iron skewer" story (see last update):
The irony, for months police & govt loyalist have been accusing anti-gov protesters of throwing those metal sticks on police!!!
2020 GMT: A police officer throws "iron skewers" at protesters, reportedly today in Al Eker, Bahrain:
2017 GMT: A protester is arrested, and beaten, in Bahrain today, as exploding tear gas canisters and flash grenades can be heard in the background:
1849 GMT: The gunfire has ceased in Tripoli. Earlier, 25 to 50 Qaddafi supporters clashed with NTC fighters in the Abu Salim neighborhood, but according to James Bays, they have been arrested.
This Facebook page has uploaded a video, reportedly showing some of the gunfire today.
1834 GMT: A source provides some context for this video:
"#Damascus: security forces arresting a man in front of Zein Al-Abdeen mosque in Midan 14-10-2011"
1751 GMT: In Bahrain, there have been two major protests today. One was organised by leading political societies, and the other was held by 14 February activists in Nuwaidrat.
An EA source reports that the second march was attacked so protesters started marching in sympathy from villages near Nuwaidrat, such as Al Eker, Ma'ameer, and Sanad. Activists are claiming some demonstrators were injured.
A photograph of the gathering in Nuwaidrat:
1743 GMT: Back from break to find a development, both good and bad, in Egypt.
Opposing forces are rallying around the Coptic Christians, and against them, as some opposition groups have begun to champion their cause. Al Jazeera reports:
Hundreds of protesters have marched from Egypt's state mosque toward Cairo's Tahrir Square to denounce a bloody attack on Coptic Christian protesters.
A crowd of onlookers threw rocks at the demonstrators outside Al-Azhar mosque. Undeterred, the group marched on toward a central Cairo church before heading to Tahrir Square.
1607 GMT: This video is reportedly from the Saqba district of Damascus, where at least one person has been killed. The protesters reportedly marched this afternoon in solidarity with the defected soldiers:
1601 GMT: An EA source from Bahrain reports significant clashes in Al Eker, Nuwaidrat, Alma'ameer, and Sitra.
Claimed photograph of police trying to break into a garage or shop in Nuwaidrat where protesters are hiding:
1556 GMT: The Guardian describes a bloody video:
They also mentioned this video, reportedly showing protesters fleeing gunfire in the Al-Tal neighborhood of Damascus.
1552 GMT: Clearly unarmed civilians are being shot at as they try to exit a mosque and cross the street in the Bab Sbaa (Lion's gate) district of Homs:
1541 GMT: Activists are claiming that this video shows Syrian security forces deployed in front of the Gazwe Badr Mosque in the Jobar district of Damascus, in order to prevent protests from forming.
1537 GMT: The description on this video matches reports we have received. It reportedly shows a wounded man, Mohammed Hishom, in the back of a car in Andan, Aleppo. Activists are claiming that he died from his wounds.
1534 GMT: According to the description on the video, this shows a protesters (Mohammed) who was killed today by Syrian forces in Enghel, Daraa.
1531 GMT: Another video reportedly taken in Damascus. This video claims to show the syrian military arresting (and slapping) dissidents in Zamalka:
1526 GMT: A very large crowd protests against Syrian President Bashar al Assad in Idlib, northern Syria:
This video has moved to our separate entry, Syria Video Special: Friday's Protests Around the Country
1521 GMT: An activist living in Syria Tweets this video:
"Aleppo video footage of security forces opening fire on on demonstrators in #Andan area… Mohammad Hashoum was shot dead"
1515 GMT: Bystanders shouting "Allahu Akbar" watch as the Syrian military moves towards demonstration in the Nazheen area of Homs:
1508 GMT: What we seem to be seeing in Syria, in the last two days but especially over the last few hours, is an intensifying crackdown. Reports and videos of tanks and violence are pouring in from an ever-expanding list of locations. So far, it appears that there have been reports of intense military crackdown in multiple cities in Daraa province, in multiple Damascus suburbs, especially Saqba, in Daeel, and in multiple parts of Houran province. These reports are in addition to reports of violence in Homs, which we are now (unfortunately) getting used to hearing.
We've also seen large-scale protests, which so far seem larger and more widespread than last Friday's events.
A large demonstration in the Halfaya area of Hama burns a Russian flag:
This video has moved to our separate entry, Syria Video Special: Friday's Protests Around the Country
1500 GMT: An activist in Syria describes this video, a report which matches others:
"#Daraa army tanks move into #Inkhil in addition to an assault still taking place right now"
1454 GMT: The latest update from the LCCS is that 11 people, including 3 children, have been killed today by the Syrian security forces:
The death toll in Syria has reached 11 today, including three children, according to the Local Co-ordination Committees. The group, which reports on protests, says five people have been killed in Dael, in Dara'a, including a child, and three people in Inkhil, in Dara'a province, including a child and a women. A child, who has already been identified (Ibrahim Shaybani) and video of him posted online... has also been killed in Damascus and one person has died in Saqba, a suburb of the captial, and one in Aleppo.
NTC fighters mounted on pick-up trucks raced towards the scene in the Abu Salim neighbourhood, a centre of support for Gaddafi. The two sides exchanged automatic and heavy machinegun fire, the Reuters witness said.
Local residents said the group of armed men had appeared in Abu Salim earlier and had begun chanting pro-Gaddafi slogans.
1442 GMT: BBC News Producer Johny Hallam confirms that there is fighting in Tripoli, and adds that it has spread to the Zawiyah Road area.
1437 GMT: Al Jazeera is reporting that violence has broken out after a pro-Qaddafi rally was held in the Tripoli neighborhood of Abu Salim:
Al Jazeera's James Bays, reporting from Tripoli, said he can see smoke coming from the Abu Salim area in the capital. The sound of gunfire and heavy weapon being fired was heard in the neighbourhood.
Abu Salim was one of the last neighborhoods to fall to the National Transitional Council fighters.
1432 GMT: The Local Coordinating Committees of Syria report:
Today number of martyrs in Syria reached 8, 5 in Daeel among them is a child, a child amrtyr in Qadam, Damascus and a martyr in Saqba, Damascus Suburbs
Based on other information coming in, that number may rise.
1428 GMT: A large crowd of protesters in Al Harak, Houran, Syria, chant anti-government slogans and praise the defecting soldiers:
This video has moved to our separate entry, Syria Video Special: Friday's Protests Around the Country
1423 GMT: Peter Beaumont speaks to The Guardian where a large friendly-fire incident has taken place. The NTC fighters are struggling to coordinate effect attacks on the ever-shrinking Qaddafi-held positions in Sirte, Libya:
1414 GMT: Now for some less-heartbreaking news. photojournalist Jonathan Rashad has taken this picture of the candle light vigil for the Coptic Christians and others killed in Maspero during Sunday's unrest in Egypt. (thanks to Andy Carvin)
1404 GMT: James Miller takes the liveblog, and has some terrible news to report.
Mutliple activists are reporting that a child, 9 or 10 years old, Ibrahim Shaybani, has been shot by Syrian military forces as they were disrupting protests in Midan, in the heart of Damascus. Two heartbreaking and disturbing videos have been posted (Watch at your own discretion), the first showing Shaybani as they start to work on him in the hospital, and in the second the extend of his wounds become apparent.
1350 GMT: A protest in Sufala in Bahrain this morning:
1345 GMT: A clip from the protest in Saqba (see 1115 GMT) in Syria, as protesters chant, "Syria belongs to us, not to Assad's family":
This video has moved to our separate entry, Syria Video Special: Friday's Protests Around the Country
1115 GMT: Back from an academic break to find a LiveStream of the protest in Saqba, a suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus:
And in Al-Qouriyah, people chant for freedom:
0715 GMT: The Syrian regime and German engineering giant Siemens have agreed a $419 million contract for the expansion of a power plant North of Damascus, according to the State news agency SANA.
The announcement comes an an eighth round of sanctions by the European Union on the Syrian leadership. The EU has prohibited the delivery of bank notes to the Syrian central bank, banned oil imports and investments in the energy sector and imposed an EU travel ban and frozen the assets of Assad and his closest associates.
0710 GMT: Al Jazeera Arabic reports that Tunisia will soon extradite the former Libyan Prime Minister, Al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmudi, to Tripoli.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Tunisian prime minister al-Baji Qaed al-Sabsi in Benghazi, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, the head of Libya's National Transitional Council, cited an agreement signed by the two countries authorising the extradition of fugitives and criminals.
0630 GMT: It has been difficult to get news out of Syria in recent days, but even the Assad regime's restrictions on communications could not block Thursday's story of more deaths amidst operations by security forces in Homs and in the northwest and south of the country.
As James Miller noted yesterday, the circumstances mean that a precise figure on casualties, amidst activist claims of "the death of several dozen martyrs" in a single town --- Binnish --- during the military campaign, is impossible to establish. However, he and Al Jazeera English agree that a figure of "more than 20" deaths on Thursday is likely.
Activists also report, amidst protests throughout the country, mass arrests in areas such as Homs and Rastan.
In Palmyra in central Syria, a crowd expresses support for the people of Binnish, "With blood and soul, we sacrifice for you":
From Bahrain, an EA source says there were a significant protests on Thursday in Mehaza before it was dispersed by security forces.
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