How many thousands marching on Friday in the call for significant reforms
See also Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "Time to Call It What It Is"
Friday's Bahrain Live Coverage: King Hamad Goes Through The Motions
2000 GMT: The official websites of the Bahraini Police and Ministry of Interior are both off-line, apparently attacked in retaliation for the arrests of human rights activists Nabeel Rajab and Zainab Alkhawaja.
1910 GMT: Maryam Alkhawaja of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights reports on her detained colleague Nabeel Rajab:
. @nabeelrajab just called his wife informing her he's being kept overnight, will b taken to his hearing tmrw morning #bahrain #feb14
— Maryam Alkhawaja (@MARYAMALKHAWAJA) May 5, 2012
1820 GMT: The Ministry of Interior website is off-line. Hactivists claim it has been attacked in retaliation for the arrests of human rights activists Nabeel Rajab and Zainab Alkhawaja.
Claimed footage of a clash between police and protesters today in Samaheej:
1755 GMT: The Bahrain Center for Human Rights posts a document indicating that its head, Nabeel Rajab, was summoned for interrogation while he was abroad on charges of "insulting statutory bodies" on 26 April.
1740 GMT: The Ministry of Interior puts out the briefest of statements about the detention of the head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights:
Nabeel Rajab arrested by order of public prosecution, all legal procedures are being taken #Bahrain
— Ministry of Interior (@moi_bahrain) May 5, 2012
Rajab's son Adam Nabeel reports, from airport security, that his father has been taken to Hoora police station.
1720 GMT: Mohammed Al-Maskati of the Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights brings urgent news about Nabeel Rajab, the head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights:
Urgent @NABEELRAJAB Head of #BCHR has just been arrested at #Bahrain airport as we just arrived from Lebanon #humanrights”
— Mohammed Al-Maskati(@MohdMaskati) May 5, 2012
1010 GMT: Back from a break to find a claim from the Ministry of Interior:
Four policemen injured including one critically in a terror blast in Bani Jamra #Bahrain
— Ministry of Interior (@moi_bahrain) May 5, 2012
0607 GMT: The Daily Telegraph of London reports on a different issue of tension, with possible economic effects:
A change in the law allowing expats to buy residential plots in Bahrain has been blocked by the country's parliament.
In axing the proposals ministers said allowing foreigners to buy such land would lead to a significant spike in property prices, which would be to the detriment of Bahrainis.
However, the timing of the move was criticised for harming the Gulf state's attempts to attract foreign investors to the politically volatile country.
0600 GMT: A straightforward start to coverage --- for all the regime's talk this week of reform, with King Hamad using a televised speech to hail the Constitutional amendments passed by Parliament, the story on Friday was in the response.
The opposition claimed that tens of thousands of people marched on the Budaiya Highway to protest that the amendments, which offered some increase in the legislature's review of Ministerial appointments and the actions of the Cabinet --- were far from enough. The images (see top of entry) indicated that estimate may not be an exaggeration.