Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Blogger is Detained

2015 GMT: Claimed footage of protest tonight in Homs in Syria:

1915 GMT: In Morocco, thousands of people have marched in Casablanca and the capital Rabat, demanding political change and greater social justice.

In Casablanca, more than 8000 people, chanted slogans such as "Less corruption and a fair distribution of wealth", "Sovereignty to the people", and "We want more equality".

The protest in the Oulfa quarter of Casablanca:

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Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Revolution Renewed

Protests tonight in the Midan section of the Syrian capital Damascus

2050 GMT: Human Rights Watch says defectors from Syria’s security forces have described receiving orders from their superiors to fire live rounds at protesters to disperse them.

HRW issued a statement based on interviews with eight soldiers and four members of secret security agencies. The interviewees said they had participated across the country in the crackdown, including in Daraa, Izraa, Baniyas, Homs, Jisr al-Shughour, Aleppo, and Damascus. They said they had participated in and witnessed the shooting and wounding of dozens of protesters and the arbitrary arrests and detentions of hundreds of civilians.

All the interviewees say their superiors told them that they were fighting infiltrators, "salafists" (hard-line Sunni adherents), and terrorists, but they were surprised to encounter unarmed protesters instead. They said they were ordered to fire on the civilians, including children, in a number of instances.

The defectors also reported that those who refused orders to shoot on protesters ran the risk of being shot themselves. One of them said they witnessed a military officer shoot and kill two soldiers in Daraa for rejecting orders.

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Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Protest Friday

Protesters gather in Tahrir Square for "Persistence Friday."

See our separate video entries: Latest Syria Videos: The "No Dialogue" Protests - Set 1 and Set 2

2056 GMT: As we close the day, a brief reflection. Our predictions this morning were pretty accurate. We saw massive demonstrations in Yemen, both for and against President Saleh. We saw a large pro-Gaddafi celebration in Libya because Gaddafi had ordered a single Friday Prayer celebration. We saw massive demonstrations in Suez and Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt.

Perhaps the most important development, however, was in Syria. In Damascus, we saw large protests in the center of the city, and security fired on the crowds, a sure sign that even the capital is starting to turn against the regime, slowly but steadily. In Hama, US Ambassador Robert Ford was described by the Syrian Interior Minister as meeting "with saboteurs in Hama ... who erected checkpoints, cut traffic and prevented citizens from going to work." However, he got a hero's welcome, and nearly 500,000 people peacefully took to the streets with few incidents of security cracking down on the city.

Protests continue tonight in Egypt, and US-Syria relations may have changed permanently. Check in tomorrow (0600 GMT) to find out what happens next.

2051 GMT: Near Tahrir Square, Cairo, 5:30 PM:

Near Tahrir Square, Cairo, 6:00 PM, and the protesters are still there now.

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Open Letter to the Arab Spring: 10 Ways to Avoid US Mistakes (Cole)

The blood of your martyrs for revolution is too recent and too precious, and too often belonged to young people who sacrificed a bright future, for you to squander this once-in-a-century opportunity to put liberty and democracy on a firm foundation in your countries. You are young, and you still weep at the thought of freedom, and of those who died for it. You are having your weddings at Tahrir Square to celebrate a new beginning. Be careful. Be very careful. In my lifetime I have seen the American state spiral down into a brutal tyranny that tortures, spies, union-busts, engages in illegal wars, and plays dirty tricks on dissidents. We used to have something much more like a democracy. Maybe we can learn from you how to safeguard something so precious.

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Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Insurgents Advance, Resistance Continues

2106 GMT: The people of Sana'a, Yemen, protesting tonight in anticipation of more protests tomorrow:

Tonight's protests in the Qaboun district of Damascus, Syria:

2100 GMT: The people of Tahrir Square, Egypt, get ready for tomorrow's protests.

2040 GMT: The US Ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, has traveled to the city of Hama and plans on spending the next 24+ hours with the protesters there. The State Department Spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, elaborates:

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Regime v. People with Rocks

2040 GMT: Claimed footage of protesters throwing stones at security forces in Hama today:

1700 GMT: Activists of the Local Coordination Committees of Syria claim the death toll in Hama today is now at least 13, including a 15-year-old boy.

The activists also claim 67 people are in hospital with serious injuries, with another 200 treated and discharged.

Among those reported killed are Ahmad Bitar, Emad Mohammad Khallouf, Baha Halbosy Nahar, Hasan Saraqbi, Mohammad Swaid, Foad Al Mukhallalati, Maher Sharabi, Mohammad Qasem Owair, Mahmoud Mahalle, Omar AlDalati, a martyr from Yousfan family, Omar Bahah and Bilal Mohammad (15 years old).

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Yemen Feature: The Tent City in Sana'a --- "I Felt Freedom Here with My Feet" (Smoltczyk)

What started as a sit-in has turned into an experment in democratic society. In the last four months, between 3,000 and 4,000 tents have been pitched in the streets of the university district in the Yemeni capital Sana'a. The tent city includes pharmacies and a makeshift hospital, four daily newspapers, auditoriums, a garden and hastily constructed cement memorials for the martyrs.

It is a city of citizens, a taste of what Yemen could become, a concrete utopia made of tarps, pallets, satellite dishes and a hodgepodge of power cables the protesters have audaciously connected to the grid in the ancient city. There is a "diplomats' tent" and a tent for actors; there are daily poetry readings and demonstrations; there is even a prison.

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Yemen Snapshot: Young Protesters "Lose Control of the Cause They Started" (Boone)

Yemen’s young people, who began holding anti-government protests outside of Sanaa University five months ago, have lost control of the cause they started.

A consortium of political parties — which, although have for years stood in opposition to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, still represent for most Yemenis a corrupt government system — have effectively hijacked the protest movement.

In the tent city where it all began, now known as Change Square, it is entrenched politicians belonging to the so-called Joint Meetings Parties (JMP), a fragile coalition of opposition groups that includes Islamists, Nasserites, and Cold War-era socialists, who have taken control of the stage and the microphone.

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Yemen Snapshot: With President Saleh Away, Relatives Try to Hold Power Against "Boring" Protests (Kasinof)

General Yahya Saleh“The problem is that the rest of the world believes that this is a youth revolution,” Brig. Gen. Yahya Saleh, one of the nephews, said in an interview in his office at the sprawling headquarters of Central Security Forces, the paramilitary division he commands.

“How many are there in the squares?” he asked. “Do they represent the majority? In a democracy, does the minority rule the majority? They should have some self-respect and go home. It’s been five months now, and it’s boring.”

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Has the Assad Regime "Lost" Hama?

Security forces use tear gas against protesters trying to march from Sanabis to Pearl Roundabout in Bahrain

1950 GMT: Developments in Jordan, as King Abdullah II approved a Cabinet shuffle after thousands of protesters rallied in Irbid, Maan, Karak, Tafileh, and the capital Amman, demanding transparency and an end to corruption.

The Minister of Interior, Saad Hayel Srour, was the biggest casualty of the shuffle. He is blamed for the use of excessive force by police against demonstrators and for allowing a wealthy businessman, serving a prison term for corruption, to leave the country for supposed medical treatment.

The Ministers of Health, Justice, and Information were also replaced.

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