Egypt, Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Triple Feature of Protest

Daily News Egypt reports on Friday's protests

See also Syria Feature: Can the Opposition Get Its Act Together?
Thursday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Regime Strikes Back

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2034 GMT: At least 4 people have been killed by police in Egypt, according to Al Jazeera:

At least two people have been shot and killed in the Egyptian city of Suez, as police used live rounds to hold back crowds during a protest over security forces' failure to prevent a deadly football riot.

Two protesters were killed in Cairo just feet away from the Interior Ministry, as police in Cairo set off salvos of tear gas and fired birdshot, and one soldier was killed on Friday when a riot police truck backed into him.

Witnesses in Suez said fighting broke out at a local police station in the northeastern city in the early hours of Friday, hours after the two protesters were killed.

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Iran Feature: How Tehran's "Islamic Awakening" Lost Its Arab Spring (Worth)

It was meant to be a crowning moment in which Iran put its own Islamic stamp on the Arab Spring. More than a thousand young activists were flown here earlier this week (at government expense) for a conference on “the Islamic Awakening,” Tehran’s effort to re-brand the popular Arab uprisings of the past year.

As delegates flooded into a vast auditorium next to a space needle in western Tehran, a screen showed images of the Iranian revolution in 1979, morphing seamlessly into footage of young Arab protesters in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Libya and Yemen.

But there was a catch. No one was invited from Syria, whose autocratic president, Bashar al-Assad, is a crucial Iranian ally.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: So They Had This Meeting in New York....

Interactive Map of Conflict Around Damascus

View Damascus, 2012 Feb 1 in a larger map

See also Iraq Feature: State Department Drones Are Overhead...But For How Long?
Sudan Feature: 10 Leaders of Protest Movement Arrested
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 100 Die as UN Discussion Begins

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2046 GMT: In Egypt, at least 73 people have been killed and 1,000 injured in a riot at a football match in Port Said.

The match was between Al Ahli, one of Egypt's leading clubs, and al-Masry, a Port Said team. Live TV footage showed fans running onto the field and chasing Ahli players.

Egypt's state prosecutors have ordered an investigation into the pitch invasion and the violence. Parliament will hold an emergency session on Thursday.

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The Latest from Iran (1 February): Is the Supreme Leader Fretting About Syria?

A poster encouraging Iranians to demonstrate publicly on 25 Bahman (14 February)

See also The Latest from Iran (31 January): "Democracy and Freedom Are A Big Lie"

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2019 GMT: Food Watch. Continuing problems with grain shipments to Iran....

The news that 400,000 tonnes of grain has been held up on 10 ships outside Iranian ports has been followed by confirmation that traders are no longer booking cargoes on Iranian ships to transport grain exports from Ukraine because of difficulties with payments following European Union sanctions.

"The indication is that Iranian flag ships would not be welcomed (at Ukrainian ports) that is the guidance that is being given." one trade source said.

Another source said, "They will not load vessels bound for Iranian destinations or Iranian ships. It is not entirely clear if this has come from the government and it looks like companies have to make their own decisions on what to do. EU sanctions are very much part of the considerations."

Ukraine's Transport Ministry said there were no restrictions on Iranian ships. "Nobody knows anything about this," a ministry spokesman said. "All our ports are open to foreign ships. There are no restrictions, nor can there be any."

However, a grain trader said, "The trade in Iranian food is getting extremely difficult as the impact of the sanctions is still developing each day. Ukraine has been a leading supplier of grain to Iran. Now it appears Iranian buyers will only be able to buy with delivery to Ukrainian ports and will face further difficulties in arranging shipments."

Ukraine exported about 445,000 tonnes of grain to Iran in the first half of the 2011/12 season. This included 92,000 tonnes of feed barley and 357,600 tonnes of feed maize.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 100 Die as UN Discussion Begins

Interactive Map of Today's Events near Damascus

View Damascus, 2012 Jan 31 in a larger map

See also Bahrain Special: Candles, Balloons, and Molotov Cocktails
Syria Video Special: On the Ground with the Free Syrian Army
Syria 1st-Hand: The Cat-and-Mouse Game in Kafar Souseh
Monday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Can the Regime Recapture the Suburbs?

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2130 GMT: At the United Nations, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton focuses on the deaths --- more than 5,400 civilians, according to UN estimates --- and the violence: "The evidence is clear that Assad's forces are initiating nearly all the attacks that kill civilians." She says, "o one in Syria is safe, including women, children, Red Crescent workers," and says the regime is working hard to pit Syria’s ethnic and religious groups against each other, risking civil war. "As Syrians take up arms, violence will spiral out of control."

The take-away line: "Stand with people of Syria and the region, or become complicit in the increasing violence."

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Can the Regime Recapture the Suburbs?

2215 GMT: More impressive video from Bab al Dreib, Homs - the fighters in the foreground are with the Free Syrian Army, and they are attempting to capture a hospital nearby. We're told by sources that by the end of the day, the FSA controlled the hospital and another checkpoint nearby:

2203 GMT: An EA correspondent in Bahrain sends us this video of the candle-lit vigil for Mohammed Ebrahim Yaghoob, the latest child to be killed in the uprising, that was held tonight in Mehaza village (see update at 2035 GMT):

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Syria 1st-Hand: The Cat-and-Mouse Game in Kafar Souseh (Damon)

CNN's Arwa Damon reports from Kafar Souseh, near Damascus, where activists try to evade capture by security forces as they carry out protests:

Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Opposition Expands

Claimed footage of Syrian troops and tanks moving into Ghouta suburb, east of Damascus

See also Syria Opinion: "Women Have Been Essential in the Uprising"
Bahrain Feature: Rubber Bullets --- Another "Non-Lethal" Weapon For The Police
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 100 Die But Opposition Slowly Advances

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2052 GMT: Earlier today (see 1535 GMT) we posted video of a march in Kafranbel in northwest Syria, with Free Syrian Army soldiers holding their weapons high. Now we are pointed to claimed footage of the insurgents standing in a "liberated" main square:

2045 GMT: Video from Dumistan in Bahrain on Friday, as police shoot tear gas inside a car --- a woman, reported to be driving, faints after she gets out of the vehicle:

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Syria Opinion: "Women Have Been Essential in the Uprising" (Allaf)

"My People Are Rising" by Mohja Kahf

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For the last 10 months of the Syrian revolution, many skeptics have repeated the tired refrain that women have been absent from the uprising and that it seems to be a male-dominated (read “Islamist-leaning”) protest movement. Such generalizations, meant to discredit the revolution, do much injustice to the women who have lived the uprising from the start at the side of their compatriots.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 100 Die But Opposition Slowly Advances

The Free Syrian Army protects protesting civilians in the town of Madaya on Friday

See also Bahrain Feature: Obama Administration "Quietly Sells Arms to Regime"
Syria Video Analysis: "Beginning of End of Regime is At Hand"
Bahrain Feature: The Clouds of Tear Gas and Death Gather Once More
Friday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Blanket of Tear Gas, A Battle in Homs

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2220 GMT: A boy in Dael in southern Syria holds up a poster, "Come kill us and leave the people of Homs and Hama":

2155 GMT: John Horne writes:

Bahrain's Minister of Interior has called tonight for prison sentences of up to 15 years for anybody caught attacking a police officer.

The call by Lieutenant-General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalif comes after a week of violence and bloodshed in Bahrain. On Tuesday, a fightback by some demonstrators, mostly youths, resulted in an officer being attacked and wounded. Images of the incident were broadcast across the world.

However, today's call by the Minister of Interior is likely to raise many eyebrows, given the documented attacks by police against both protesters and civilians this week. There have been at least four Bahrainis killed as a consequence of police action, with reports that one of the victims was abused in police custody. Thursday night also saw security forces covering towns and villages with tear gas, bringing concern both for mmediate conequences and also long-term health risks.

The Minister of Interior's call also follows the announcement that the police are to be given more equipment with which to defend themselves against attack. That equipment, which may be used in far more than a defensive manner, includes "gas and sound bombs as well as guns that fire rubber bullets".

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