The son of a victim of protest violence holds the Freedom Torch in Al Eker village on Friday night
An EA correspondent in Bahrain reports that the 14 February Coalition has launched a new wave of protests --- "Freedom Torch":
According to a statement that been released by the opposition, there is a full week of activities with different kind of protests, from prayer night for the martyrs to human chains in villages. The most important one is the "Freedom Torch".
A torch will be taken around all Bahrain villages and ending in Sanabis, the nearest village to Pearl Roundabout/Martyrs Square, on 22 November, with celebrations of "the continuous fight for freedom and dignity" at each stop.
2230 GMT: Upset at the disqualification of a political party for "irregularities" from Sunday's election, a crowd of protesters allegedly tried to attack the regional government headquarters today in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring. Police reportedly fired into the air to disrupt the protests:
2221 GMT: Al Jazeera is now reporting that today's death toll in Syria has topped 40. The other significant development? Most of the protesters were killed in Hama, adding credibility to details that EA reported earlier.
On Wednesday, during a talk by Bahraini activist Maryam Al Khawaja, I ventured the comment that the "success" of the Bahraini regime's propaganda effort would not come through social media, where its supporters' efforts have become a source of annoyance at "trolling" or of comedy. Nor was Bahrain's monarchy getting much value of the US and British PR firms who, for quite expensive contracts, were trying to dress up State press releases as "news" and putting out clumsy opinion pieces on The Huffington Post.
Instead, I suggested, the "success" would come through mainstream Washington journalists. Sometimes this is through the re-cycling of the regime's claims, citing unnamed sources --- see the recent effort by David Ignatius of The Washington Post. Sometimes, it is the attempt by a regime official to use an article as a podium for the right line.
2023 GMT: According to NTC officials, Muammar Qaddafi and his son Muatassim will be buried in a secret location, with Muslim clerics present, likely sometime tomorrow.
2010 GMT: A very large crowd in Dael, Daraa, forms a human "SOS," a call for help:
2020 GMT: The lawyer for five political activists accused of insulting the leaders of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has said that his clients spent years serving their nation and that their alleged "crimes" are rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
The five men, arrested in April for urging public protests and disrupting public order, have been on trial since June, with a verdict expected on 17 November.
"The defendants are among the experts who served this country," said attorney Mohammed al-Roken. "There is no legislation that forbids peaceful gatherings. On the contrary, there's an article in the constitution that guarantees the right of citizens to hold public gatherings."
The defendants include economist Nasser bin Ghaith, a lecturer at the Abu Dhabi branch of France's Sorbonne University. He published an article criticising attempts to avoid political reform by buying off citizens with generous government spending programmes.
Another defendant, Ahmed Mansoor, is a communications engineer and poet whose works were published by Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage. He is accused of running a website that provided a platform for the rest of the defendants to express anti-regime views.
1950 GMT: Braving gunfire that injured several people, protesters in Hodeidah in Yemen continue a march:
The Bab Amr District of Homs, Syria, is targeted by heavy machine guns, tank shells, and anti-personnel shells that explode overheadSee Also, Syria Video Essay: The Military Assault on Homs
1933 GMT: James Miller posts a video essay evaluating the assault by the Syrian military on the city of Homs and its aftermath.
1921 GMT: EA's source in Bahrain writes this report of what happened today:
Just came back from my last round in Bahrain. On my way out I saw groups of protesters (men and women) marching in Sitra, 7 villages, police vehicles chasing some of them. The roads looked like a war zone, sounds of horns honking the famous tune, "Tn.Tn.Ttn," AKA "down down Hamad" could be heard all around from protesters who were in the streets or up the roofs of the houses.
After managing to find a way out, I took the highway leading to the Saudi causeway. Police jeeps and traffic officers where all parking on both sides of the highway & at some checkpoints in the entrances to the villages. I noticed that the turn leading to Budayeh road (north of Bahrain) was open so I took it, and tried to get inside some of the villages there, like Karanah or Janosan, but it was no use. They were either blocked by police or by barriers that had been placed by protesters. So I had to go back from where I came.
I went back and took another road leading to east the of Bahrain. On my way I saw a group of protesters blocking the other lane of the highway near Athari village (police jeeps were just about 300m away!!). They used bricks, wood plats and 1 of them was pouring on the ground some kind of liquid -I think it was used car oil- they were fast and ran away immediately once they completed!
So I just contined on my way. I saw police SUVs heading toward the blocked road. I reached Juffair village, and I noticed the remainings of the roadblock that was done early this morning. There was a police SUV parked next to the scene, seems it was there to prevent protesters from doing it again, I continued until I reached Seef area (the place where protesters were determined to reach and gather). It was full, but with police thugs, not with protesters.
It's the last day of the weekend, people usually go out, malls are suppose to be full, but two main malls, Bahrain mall & Dana mall, were closed, and the other 2 big ones, Seef & City Center, the parking lots were almost empty!
That's when I decided to get back home, it's true that we couldn't reach the center point which we planned to gather in, but for sure and thanks to the huge security presence in all around Bahrain roads I can say with certainty that the Bahrain revolution is still alive and people are defiantly not going to give up. Government fears us, it fears our existence and fears our truthful movement for freedom and dignity.
Friday's two-hour gathering, organised by four main political societies, in the Bahraini village of Ma'ameer, "The path for democracy"
An EA source inside Bahrain summarises Friday's two-hour rally, organised by four main political societies, in Ma'ameer:
The event started at 4:00 pm with reading some of the Qur'an, after which two speeches where given, the first by Waad political society member, the lawyer Mr. Isa Ebrahim, and the second by Al Wefaq member and former member of Parliament, A. Aljalil Khalil.
Bahrain Foreign Minister Al-KhalifaEarlier this week we wrote of how David Ignatius, the star columnist of The Washington Post, was being used by US and Saudi officials to spin the story of the Iranian plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador to Washington.
Indeed, Ignatius was doing much more: he put out the claim that Tehran was behind the slaying of a Saudi official in Pakistan (on 16 May in one paragraph of Ignatius' story, in July in another paragraph). Iran was involved in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and threats against Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Beirut. And Gholam Shakuri, the Qods Force officer indicted in The Plot, "had helped organize militant Shiite protesters in Bahrain".
Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 5:24
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