Egypt, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Dramas with State Security

2030 GMT: Thousands of Moroccans have gathered in Casablanca's Mohammed V Square, demanding government reform and an end to corruption.

Global Voices Online has more description and video:

2025 GMT: Thousands of Lebanese demonstrators have marched in Beirut, protesting the country's sectarian political system, waving Lebanese flags and chanting Egypt- and Tunisia-inspired slogans such as "People want to topple the regime" and "Revolution".

Some demonstrators carried signs saying "For the good of the country: secular democracy" and "We are all equal" while others had written "No to sectarianism" on their foreheads and wrapped their heads in the flag.

Today's protests was a significant increase on the hundreds who were in last week's rally.

2015 GMT: The State Department has advised US citizens in Yemen to consider leaving. It has authorised the departure from Yemen of the family members of US Embassy staff, as well as non-essential personnel.

2010 GMT: Al Jazeera English summarises the pro-democracy demonstrations today in Bahrain:

Thousands of protesters have gathered outside the prime minister's office in Bahrain to demand that he step down, as their campaign for reform in the tiny Gulf nation enters its fourth week.

The demonstrators massed on Sunday at the Al-Qudaibiya Palace [Ministers' Council complex] in the capital, Manama, chanting slogans against the government and King Hamad, but failed to disrupt a government meeting in progress there.

Demonstrators shouted "Topple Hamad! Topple Hamad!" and "Hey Khalifa, get out! Get out!", referring to the country's long-time prime minister, Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa.

Al-Khalifa, who was presiding over a weekly meeting of government ministers inside the palace, later told the state-run Bahrain News Agency that changes are under way and the kingdom's "reform march will continue".

"The government's development policies will continue upbeat as we are determined more than ever to achieve our goal of upgrading the citizens' standards of living by providing them with the means of decent life," he said.

The demonstrators want al-Khalifa to step down over alleged corruption and a deadly crackdown on the opposition in which seven people were killed.

"We want the prime minister to go," Alaa al-Nasr, a 24-year-old demonstrator, was reported by the AFP news agency as saying.

Protesters on Sunday also chanted for the 2002 constitution, which they say gave too much power to the monarchy, to be scrapped.

Video of the rally in front of the Ministers' Council complex:

1925 GMT: Egyptian State TV is reporting that 27 protesters were arrested in front of the State Security Headquarters in Lazoghly in Cairo (see 1740 and 1755 GMT).

There are reports that some demonstrators are moving back from Tahrir Square to the Headquarters.

1810 GMT: Tonight's clashes in Egypt have overshadowed the news that Prime Minister Essam Sharaf replaced six members of the Cabinet today.

There is a new Foreign Minister, Nabil al-Arabi, replacing Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who held the post since 2004, and a new Minister of Interior, Nabil al-Araby.

Al-Arabi was Egypt's United Nations representative in the 1990s and an international arbitration judge.

1800 GMT: A doctor in Misurata, 210 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli, has said at least 18 people, including a baby, were killed and "many people wounded" in fighting between Qaddafi forces and the opposition.

1755 GMT: Protesters regrouping in tahrir. Very angry mood. More anti army sentiment than I've ever seen and soldiers seem angry too."

1745 GMT: Opposition leaders in Bahrain said Sunday that they would not be satisfied by regime offers of money and jobs.

“This is about dignity and freedom — it’s not about filling our stomachs,” said Ebrahim Sharif al-Sayed, a former banker who led a protest on Sunday at the gates of the Ministers' Council.

The Bahraini Ministry of Interior announced over the weekend that it was seeking to hire 20,000 people, to “benefit job seekers” and improve security in the country.

1740 GMT: Many reports are coming in of the Egyptian Army firing shots into the air and chasing and beating protesters outside the State Security Headquarters at Lazoghly in Cairo.

There are also reports of "thugs" assaulting protesters from the other side. Demonstrators are trying to regroup in Tahrir Square.

1645 GMT: Al Jazeera English reports that the "eight members of a British mission" who were detained in eastern Libya today by the opposition have boarded the HMS Cumberland and left the country. Correspondent Hoda Hamid was shown an official letter explaining seven of them were providing the security detail for the eighth, a diplomat, who was attempting to get in contact with opposition forces.

Reports this morning, including from an EA source, indicated that eight members of the special forces (SAS) accompanied a "junior diplomat" into Libya but did not notify the opposition before the group was intercepted and detained at a military base.

1630 GMT: Saudi Arabia's Council of Senior Clerics has supported the regime's ban on public protests, following demonstrations by hundreds of Shi'ites in the east of the country.

The statement declared, "The Council of Senior Clerics affirms that demonstrations are forbidden in this country. The correct way in sharia (Islamic law) of realising common interest is by advising, which is what the Prophet Mohammad established. Reform and advice should not be via demonstrations and ways that provoke strife and division, this is what the religious scholars of this country in the past and now have forbidden and warned against."

Security forces have detained at least 22 Shi'ites over the last two weeks.

More than 17,000 people have backed a call on Facebook for "Day of Rage" demonstrations across the country, beginning Friday.

Meanwhile, the regime has freed a Shi'ite cleric, Tawfiq al-Amer, arrested last week after he called for a constitutional monarchy. About 100 Shiites demonstrated after Friday Prayers in the eastern town of Hofuf demanding his release.

1625 GMT: An opposition member in Ras Lanuf has told Al Jazeera that there are negotiations under way with element in Sirte, a regime stronghold to the west, and it is hoped that the insurgents can enter the town without a fight.

1620 GMT: Another photograph of today's pro-democracy rally in Manama in Bahrain:

1615 GMT: A Libyan activist says that 16 opposition fighters were killed and more than 60 wounded today in skirmishes in and near Misurata. The opposition claims it killed 22 regime troops and captured 20 others.

1610 GMT: Reports continue of protests, clashes, and arrests outside State Security Headquarters in Egypt.

Meanwhile, hundreds of Cairo University students and professors have called for the dismissal of university administrators and college deans, saying that they implementing policies of former President Mubarak's National Democratic Party and curtailing campus freedoms. The students, demanding the dismissal of the University President, condemned the presence of state security personnel on the campus.

1450 GMT: A doctor in Misurata, the opposition-held city 210 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli, reports on skirmishes near the city: "I received three dead bodies and many injured people from fighting this morning. We are impartial, we must treat everyone. But we need more drugs and emergency kits. We have a lot of needs."

1335 GMT: In Saudi Arabia, an investigation has brought evidence of corruption in the granting of land that was meant for the poor in the governorate of Badr, in the Madinah Province in the west of the country.

The committee, set up by the provincial governorate of Madinah, discovered that a number of plots that had been earmarked for the government’s land grant program had gone to municipal officials and their relatives.

1325 GMT: Back from a travel break to find skirmishes continuing in Libya....

The opposition claims that it has shot down a regime helicopter during fighting in the east. The front-line of fighting appears to be Bin Jawad, seized by the opposition on Saturday. The regime has claimed that its counter-attack has succeeded, but a resident of the town says it is still held by insurgents.

In the third day of battle in the front-line of Zawiyah 55 km (35 miles) west of Tripoli, reports continue of attacks by regime tanks and mortars.

There is also news of regime tanks challenging the opposition in Misurata, 210 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli, which was taken from the regime more than week ago. The opposition claims it has cut off 3-4 tanks and 1-2 armoured personnel carriers.

Meanwhile, British Minister of Defence Liam Fox has said that there is a "small diplomatic team" in east Libya. Earlier today (see 0810 GMT), EA reported from a source that an eight-man special forces unit and a "junior diplomat", possibly an intelligence officer, had been detained by the opposition.

0905 GMT: Reports coming in that regime forces have launched a counter-attack against the east Libyan town of Bin Jawad, taken by the opposition on Saturday (see 0745 GMT). Fighter jets have struck near Ras Lanuf, the town east of Bin Jawad taken by the opposition on Friday, and Zawiyah, west of Tripoli.

Libyan planes have also reportedly launched strikes on an anti-Gaddafi force moving toward the regime stronghold of Sirte, west of Bin Jawad.

0840 GMT: Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said has replaced three top government officials amidst protests demanding reforms, an end to corruption, and a dismissal of all ministers.

Demonstrators have spread to a key oil region, Haima, with oil workers staging a sit-in in the area about 500 km (310 miles) southwest of the capital Muscat.

(See separate feature, "Meet Sultan Qaboos, The 'Classy Despot'".)

0810 GMT: An EA source offers support for the story, reported in The Sunday Times of London, that a British Special Air Service (SAS) unit and a "junior diplomat" are being held by the opposition in eastern Libya.

The source believes, but cannot confirm, that the diplomat is actually an officer of the British foreign intelligence service MI6. They were likely on a mission to safeguard British oil interests in Libya.

According to The Sunday Times, the appearance of the eight-man SAS unit and diplomat angered the Libyan opposition, who ordered their detention in a military base.

A British Foreign Office spokeswoman and the Minister of Defence told AFP, "We can neither confirm nor deny the report."

0804 GMT: In Libya, Al Jazeera English's correspondent has now been able to leave her hotel and go to Tripoli's Green Square, where she is among a large crowd celebrating the claims on State TV of dramatic military victories.

The correspondent has been told by a regime official that Qaddafi forces have even moved into Benghazi, Libya's second city, and killed the head of the opposition council established there.

There is no evidence for any of the regime claims.

0800 GMT: Youm7 posts a memorandum which its claims is an order to State Security to shred documents:

0755 GMT: General Mansour el-Essawy has been named as Egypt's Minister of Interior.

0750 GMT: Protesters have marched this morning in the capital of Manama in Bahrain to the gates of the Ministers' Council complex.

0745 GMT: More evidence this morning of the push of opposition forces from east to west across northern Libya....

Bashir Abudl Gadir, a rebel commander, says that his forces now control the town of al-Nawfaliyah. The town is west of Bin Jawad, which rebels took on Saturday. Bin Jawad is west of Ras Lanuf, claimed on Friday by the opposition.

0705 GMT: A photograph of a Libyan Air Force SU-24 jet which was downed by the opposition near Benghazi on Saturday:

Al Jazeera English notes that there has been no confirmed appearances of the premiere planes, MiG-23s, of the regime air force. Speculation is that pilots and/or ground crews may have defected.

0700 GMT: Al Jazeera English tries to pick its way through the unclear situation in Tripoli. Its correspondent --- confined like all foreign journalists to the hotel --- says that early this morning, sporadic gunfire became steady. She also heard police vehicles racing through the capital.

Later this morning, Qaddafi supporters came out on the streets. In what appears to be a cover story for developments, State TV is claiming that this was a celebration of regime triumphs in three cities other parts of Libya.

Witnesses quickly take the claims apart, reporting that in two of those cities, Tobruk and Misurata, there is no sign of a regime pushback. An opposition figure in Misurata says the only conflict is a standoff at a military academy with the remnants of Qaddafi forces; most of them, he says, have defected to the opposition.

AFP also reports that the oil port of Ras Lanuf in north-central Libya, taken by the opposition on Friday, is still in their control.

Elsewhere, the death toll at Friday's explosion at an ammunition depot, near opposition-held Benghazi in eastern Libya, has risen to 39.

0625 GMT: Catching up after a break on Saturday....

The military situation in Libya continues to hold attention, with conflicting and unclear news this morning. There is heavy gunfire in Tripoli this morning, but State TV claims this is from supporters of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi celebrating in the capital's Green Square. They are supposedly cheering the re-taking of Zawiyah, 55 km (35 miles) west of Tripoli --- where a front-line battle has taken place over two days --- Misurata, 210 km (130 miles) east of Tripoli, and even Tobruk in the far east of Libya.

However, rebel groups say that they are still in control of these areas. While there were reports yesterday that regime tanks were close to the main square of Zawiyah, shelling surrounding building, there was no indication of fighting in the other two cities. On Friday, footage from Misurata showed many thousands of people celebrating its liberation from the regime.

For most of the day, however, even Libya was overshadowed by a developing story in Egypt. After protesters occupied the State Security Headquarters in Alexandria on Friday, demonstrators --- again claiming that they wanted to prevent the destruction of documents --- gathered at headquarters in the 6 October and Nasr City sections of Cairo. 

By the evening, after the immediate threat of more clashes was abated by the appearance of the Army, news was circulating of dramatic finds in the documents that had been saved from the shredder. The picture was being drawn of a state security system seeking the most intimate details --- one of the headline claims was that sex videotapes of prominent figures were held by the authorities --- on its citizens and foreigners in Egypt.