Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Starting 2012 With a Bang

Bahraini police, after speaking to activist Nabeel Rajab, attack the protest march in Manama on Friday night

See also Syria Video: Amidst the Violence, A #SecurityFail Comedy Moment
Friday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Calling for International Intervention?

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1930 GMT: Security camera footage showing the moment of yesterday's blast in Damascus has been obtained by the Al Alam News Network (and uploaded to YouTube via a third party). The commentators note that the explosion can be seen under the highway overpass, next to a car belonging to the security forces. See our liveblog yesterday for a map pinpointing the exact location of the blast.

1830 GMT: Tonight's mass demonstration in Bab Amro in Homs:

1800 GMT: A video of today's rally outside the headquarters of opposition Al Wefaq society in Bahrain:

1637 GMT: Earlier we reported on a discussion between Bahraini police and the leader of the opposition Al Wefaq, Sheikh Ali Salman, about the demonstration outside Al Wefaq headquarters. Soon after that, Salman told the crowd to disperse, "Our message has been heard."

Video of the encounter:

1633 GMT: A 50-year-old man with a history of mental illness set himself on fire Saturday in northern Tunisia, two days after a similar case in the south.

Daoud Bouhli poured gasoline over himself and then ignited it in front of Bizerte Town Hall.

1629 GMT: A sit-in protest in Khalidiya in Homs in Syria is in its third day:

1625 GMT: Yemen's acting leader Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has threatened to resign unless President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his allies stop "interfering" in his duties, according to a senior member of the opposition.

"Relations between Saleh and his deputy have deteriorated... and Hadi has informed Western mediators he will leave Sanaa if the interference in his jurisdiction continues," a senior member of the opposition Joint Meeting Parties said.

Under a plan for transfer of power, the JMP and Saleh's General People's Congress party divided Cabinet post in a national unity government preparing for a Presidential election in February.

After several months of resistance, Saleh signed the deal in November,

1615 GMT: Former Egyptian Prime Minister and Presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq was forced to flee a campaign rally on Friday after protesters threw chairs at him.

Shafiq was addressing a rally in the Cairo neighbourhood of Imbaba on Thursday evening when some residents began chanting, "Shafiq! Get out!."

Shafiq, the last Prime Minister under President Hosni Mubarak, shouted back, "This is not how Egypt is going to move forward. You will not be useful to Egypt in this way."

Scuffles broke out between his supporters and his critics, who threw chairs at the podium forcing Shafiq's bodyguards to escort him out of the area.

1605 GMT: Syrian State media features the "mass official and popular participation" of thousands in the funeral procession for the 25 people killed in Friday's explosion in Damascus.

1405 GMT: Syrian President Assad, in a meeting with the leader of Turkey's Felicity Party, has said that he believes recent tensions between Ankara and Damascus are temporary, with the two countries returning to "brotherly" relations.

Assad explained that there might have "some wrongs committed between the two countries" as Syria underwent a "reform process". He said, “Even moving from one house to another is not easy,” and the Syrian opposition and its supporters have no real intention of reforms.

Assad continued his discussion of bilateral relations, “We are living in the same house. If there is a fire in one room, it would spread to other rooms. That is why we have to extinguish this fire together."

Footage, from the Damascus suburb of Kafarsouseh yesterday, of security forces and plainclothes "shabiha" beating a protester:

1335 GMT: A protester at the rally outside opposition Al Wefaq headquarters in Bahrain offers a flower to a policeman:

Police talk to Sheikh Ali Salman, the head of Al Wefaq --- Salman reportedly asked the crowd later to disperse, saying, "Our message is delivered":

Women at the protest:

1320 GMT: A large anti-regime rally, with chants of support for the Free Syrian Army, in Kafarouma in Idlib Province in northwest Syria:

A large rally in Tafas in Daraa Province in the south:

1310 GMT: Another possible flashpoint in Bahrain today --- demonstrators gathered outside the headquarters of the leading opposition society Al Wefaq, watched by security forces.

On Friday, the Ministry of Interior turned down the request of Al Wefaq for a rally permit, claiming the gathering would be a threat to traffic.

Video of police jeeps chasing a young man carrying a Bahrain flag behind Al Wefaq headquarters:

1010 GMT: Amnesty International has issued an appeal for 18-year old student Hassan 'Oun, detained in Bahrain and allegedly tortured, beaten, and threatened with rape after his arrest in Manama on 3 January.

'Oun's family said he was interrogated about his contact with the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. The student had told the Center about being tortured by police during an earlier arrest i 2011.

1005 GMT: Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdisi has said that “there is no justification” for internationalizing the Syrian crisis, adding that if a decision was made to internationalize the situation, “then we will deal it".

Makdisi claimed, “We have offered the mission all what it needs,” aserting that Arab monitors had come to realize "that there are [efforts seeking] to strike Syria and smuggle arms [into it]".

0955 GMT: And now a third video for consideration about last night's march in Manama and the police attack --- this is an 8-minute montage put out by activists:

0805 GMT: Bahraini police put out their video version, without sound, of the charge on the march in Manama and the confrontation with Nabeel Rajab, the head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

Pro-regime activists claims that the video proves Rajab was "rescued" by the police --- others have denied he was beaten --- but even in this edited footage, the activist is clearly in pain and walking gingerly because of an apparent back injury. He also has visible marks, hours after the incident, on the right side of his face:

0725 GMT: Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has issued a statement that there must be no amnesty for the worst rights violations in Yemen.

Pillay addressed Yemeni decision-makers : “I have been closely following the events in Yemen, particularly the very contentious debate about an amnesty law to be presented to Parliament shortly. International law and the UN policy are clear on the matter: amnesties are not permissible if they prevent the prosecution of individuals who may be criminally responsible for international crimes including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and gross violations of human rights.”

Pillay continued, “Based on information we have gathered, there is reason to believe that some of these crimes were committed in Yemen during the period for which an amnesty is under consideration. Such an amnesty would be in violation of Yemen’s international human rights obligations.”

0715 GMT: In his analysis of Syria and Bahrain on Friday, James Miller wrote, "2011 was the year of the protester, and 2012 is already starting out with a bang."

By the end of the day, an explosion in Damascus --- who was responsible? --- would kill and injure dozens, while loud, large anti-regime protests took place up and down the country. In Bahrain, police would suddenly, violently attack a march in Manama, seizing, beating, and wounding prominent activists such as Nabeel Rajab and Said Yousif Almuhafda. 

A bang, indeed.