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Entries in Nabil al-Arabi (4)

Wednesday
Apr182012

Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Appealing to Damascus

Syrian President Assad and his wife Asma at an aid centre in Damascus, collection donations fo residents of Homs

See also Syria Feature: How the Uprising Has Damaged the Scientific Community
Syria Wired: The Latest from Social Media and EA's Readers
Tuesday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Cease-fire? 55 Dead on Monday


2056 GMT: A major, shocking headline, and a complete turnaround in rhetoric for the Bahraini regime:

The government of Bahrain cannot guarantee the safety of Formula One teams and spectators at this Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix as violence escalates in the Gulf kingdom, according to the British former police officer who is working on security at the track.

According to John Yates, the British law enforcement official who has been hired by the regime to revamp the Bahraini police, there was a possibility that security at the Formula 1 race could be compromised...

And the Bahraini police could resort to using live ammunition if necessary:

"The police will have all the options you would expect. If the opposition started firing live ammunition, the police would respond with live," he said, adding: "But I don't think that's likely."

This is a complete reversal for Yates, who once said that Bahrain was safer than London.

Yates insisted that the government continues to reform, and though security forces have sometimes overstepped their boundaries, those incidents were limited and being investigated. He denied that police were preemptively attacking villages.

The Ministry of Interior also released a statement today saying that rioters and vandals were arrested after having committed crimes.

However, as we saw today, police responded to the presence of protesters by challenging the crowds with riot police, and only showed restraint when they saw the media. Even with media present, the police still attacked. Other videos, taken over many months, show police randomly patrolling villages, looking for protesters to challenge, sparking reprisal attacks against the police. There does appear to be a pattern of police provocation, and the journalists in Bahrain have seen that with their own eyes.

Of course, there have also been incidents where protesters have used force against police. After 14 months of uprisings, however, and many months of John Yates, the situation has hardly gotten better.

In fact, it seems to be getting worse.

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
Sep132011

Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Towards a Civil State?

Claimed footage of a mass funeral procession for Ezzat al-Baidee, the teenager whose death in the Damascus suburb of Douma on Monday was captured on video

See also When Israel & Turkey Co-operated: West Jerusalem Asks Ankara for Help with Hamas


2040 GMT: A series of videos from around Homs in Syria tonight --- the Waar district:

Inshaat:

Ghouta:

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
Apr192011

The Latest from Iran (19 April): A Regime Confession About the Greens?

2010 GMT: On the Sports Pages (Parliament v. President Edition). Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, has filed an official complaint with the judiciary against the Ahmadinejad Government for failing to establish a Ministry of Sports and Youth.

Last December, Parliament passed a law for the formation of the ministry of youth and sports by 9 April 2011. Last week, Larijani sent a letter to Ahmadinejad reminding him of the deadline.

However, the president’s chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, said on Sunday: “The government and the president believe that this issue is not in the interest of the country’s sports and athletics.”

Click to read more ...

Sunday
Mar062011

Egypt, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Dramas with State Security

2030 GMT: Thousands of Moroccans have gathered in Casablanca's Mohammed V Square, demanding government reform and an end to corruption.

Global Voices Online has more description and video:

Click to read more ...