Bahrain 1st-Hand: The Café Where Lattes Have an Extra Shot of Tear Gas (Ellick)

Bahraini security forces fire tear gas outside Costa Coffee on 15 December

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The repression has hardly let up, even as the kingdom says it is instituting reforms. And with no place to legally organize, this coffee shop has become an unlikely gathering place for human rights activists and opposition leaders. Indeed, the manager says business has recently increased by 50 percent.

“We disappeared because we had never seen tanks and bullets,” said Ala’a Shehabi, 31, an economics lecturer who avoided the cafe until recently. “But now we have removed the cape of fear and come into the public once again.”

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Futility of the Observers?

2049 GMT: There are impressive videos pouring in, and along with eyewitness reports, they show that protests continue into the night across Syria. So far, one of our favorite videos shows a protest taking place, almost completely in the dark after power was cut, in Khirbat al Ghazalah, Daraa. But perhaps the best-lit video shows a large protest in Irbeen, an important suburb of Damascus, and is posted by the Coalition of Free Damascenes For Peaceful Change:

2044 GMT: Two videos claim to show the moment security forces opened fire on protesters in Daraya, a Damascus suburb:

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Mr Al-Dabi, Can You See the Violence Now?

A woman paints her message on a street in Deir Ez Zor in northeast Syria: "Down with Bashar"

See also Syria Special: Observing the Observers --- Evidence of The Abuses in Homs
Egypt Video: Alaa Abd-El Fattah Speaks Out After Release from Prison
Egypt Feature: "The One Citizen" --- Political Prisoner Maikel Nabil's Powerful Critique
Egypt Special: Are Writing and Walking Really Such a Threat to the Regime?
Wednesday's Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Will Arab League Observers Make a Difference?

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1815 GMT: Egypt. With reports that the march swelled to 1000 demonstrators, protesters on the Free Maikel Nabil are now rallying outside the Supreme Court. On twitter, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi relays some of the chants:

Bring Maikal from the cell!' "Maikal Maikal you hero, your imprisonment sets the nation free.

O freedom where are you? Scaf is standing between us.

Continuing a strategy increasingly being seen in Egypt, activists are projecting footage of crimes and beatings committed by SCAF onto the Supreme Court walls:

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Will Arab League Observers Make a Difference?

Protesters in front of the headquarters of the ruling Ba'ath Party in the Syrian capital Damascus last night

See also Syria Special: Who is Observing What, and What Will Happen When They Finish?
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Pounding Homs

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2108 GMT: Citizen journalist Khaled Abu Salah confronts the head of the Arab League observers, Mohamed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi:

Another video of the chaos and gunfire surrounding the observers in Bab Sbaa in Homs:

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Pounding Homs

1955 GMT: One of the conditions of the Arab League observers was supposed to be the withdrawal of tanks from the cities they were visiting. Well, those appear to the the observers, that is absolutely a tank, and this appears to be Baba Amr, Homs:

1927 GMT: An activist describes this video, reportedly taken today in Hama:

Demonstrators in the al-Baroudiyeh neighborhood, trying to reach Assi square, and in the video they [gather] behind buildings because of the presence of snipers; among the chants - "we don't bow down except to God," and, "oh Homs, we are with you till death."

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Egypt, Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: An Activist is Freed

Egyptian activist Alaa Abd-El Fattah joins chants in Tahrir Square after he was freed on Sunday

See also Yemen and Media Opinion: Does a Life March Take Place If No One Covers It?
Sudan Special: A New Spark for 2011's Forgotten Revolution?

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2140 GMT: The Local Coordination Committees claim that 40 people --- 33 of them in Homs --- have been killed by Syrian security forces today.

A rally tonight in Houla in Homs Province in sympathy with the shelled Bab Amro section of Homs:

A protest in the Damascus suburb of Saqba calling for freedom and the toppling of the regime:

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Peace on Earth?

An anti-regime demonstration on Saturday outside the Constantino Church in the Damascus suburb of Yabroud

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0645 GMT: We open this morning with a separate video/picture feature of clashes in Bahrain last night, including the visual evidence that police are allying with armed plainclothes men in operations against villages.

Earlier, State media said charges relating to freedom of expression would be dropped in 34 cases involving 343 individuals linked to protests, although some of the accused would be tried on other allegations "including acts of violence and sabotage".

Matar Matar, a senior official with the opposition society Al Wefaq and a former MP, responded, "It's a media show, not linked to the application of the recommendations of the [Bahrain] Independent Commission of Inquiry." Protesters have called for the immediate release of all political detainees. 

In Yemen, President Saleh has personally repeated the declaration, issued by his office earlier this week, that he will leave for the United States during the transition of power. He did not say when he would depart.

Meanwhile, the hope of the Life March, a 250-kilometre (155-mile) walk by thousands from Taiz to the capital Sana'a was soon overtaken by the gunfire, tear gas, and water cannon of the regime. Firing on protesters who wanted to go to the Presidential Palace and demand Saleh's trial for crimes against his people, the security forces killed nine people.

Bahrain Video/Picture Feature: Are Police Allying with "Thugs" For Attacks?

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A series of images and first-hand reports from Bahrain last night pointed to a new phase in the conflict between security forces and protesters. It appears that, whether or not the police requested assistance, they have been joined by plainclothes men in the use of force and intimidation.

The main location was Dar Kulaib. Police mingled with men hurling stones and other objects and then the force, armed with sticks and metal rods, moved into the village, damaging vehicles and property:

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Violence Continues Through the Night...

In Bayada, Homs, protesters run through the trash to escape sniper fire.

See also Friday 23 December LiveBlog: Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Damascus Bombs
Bahrain Special: Last Night It Rained Tear Gas

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1710 GMT: The "Strike of Dignity", shutting down shops and schools in support of protests against the regime, continues across Syria. Footage from Kisweh outside Damascus:

1635 GMT: Upsetting scenes continue to unfold across the Middle East today, whilst the suffering wrought by yesterdays events comes to us through videos and reports. None of this violence has stopped the spirit of protest, with demonstrations taking place in Syria, Bahrain, Yemen and beyond.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Damascus Bombs

Footage from the scene of one of the bombings this morning in Damascus (Warning: Graphic Images)

See also Bahrain Special: Last Night It Rained Tear Gas
Iraq Aftermath: US Marine "I Am Sorry for the Role I Played in Fallujah"
Palestine Music Feature: The CD Highlighting Israel’s Imprisonment of Children
Thursday's Syria, Bahrain, Egypt (& Beyond) LiveBlog: Protest Resurgent

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UPDATE: EA has received reports that the Baba Amr district in Homs has been attacked by Syrian forces. As such, we have launched a new liveblog (as it is now the 24th), where we will cover the latest developments on the attack.

2359 GMT: A prayer service tonight for 9 martyrs killed in the Baba Amr district of Homs:

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