Bahrain Violence Quiet for Now, Deadly Weekend in Libya

In Bahrain, protesters spent the weekend in a tent village they set up in Pearl Square in the capital Manama. According to Anna Neistat, associate director for Program and the Emergencies division for HRW, who is in Pearl Square, about 1,000 people are camped there. Some people are setting up food stands and a media center. There is no presence of security guards in the square and the present mood, she reports, is cheerful and optimistic.

Last Thursday authorities used a heavy hand in dealing with protesters, sending in security forces to raid their encampment. Several people were killed, but the protesters have now regained the streets and the situation is relatively calm.

Commenting on the situation in Bahrain, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview with ABC's “This Week” that the United States supports the call for reform and would like to see the kingdom get back on that track as soon as possible.

“We’ve been very clear from the beginning that we do not want to see any violence,” said Clinton. “We think it is absolutely unacceptable. We very much want to see the human rights of the people protected, including right to assemble, right to express themselves, and we want to see reform. And so Bahrain has started on some reform, and we want to see them get back to that as quickly as possible.”

Libya

Reports coming out of Libya tell a story of a weekend of bloodshed. The death toll of protesters rose to at least 173 over the past four days, according to Human Rights Watch. Numbers continue to climb as more information leaks out through the tightening information blockade.

It looks like Libya’s leader may have ordered his forces to put down the protests virtually at any cost, and that cost is being paid in the lives of Libyans.

— Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International

The Gaddafi regime in Libya blocked the Internet.

Since the demonstrations in Libya started last Thursday, the regime has answered with massive force against demonstrators, including open machine gunfire, and arrests of citizens caught giving interviews to international media.

One eyewitness told the New York-based rights organization that more than 10,000 protesters had gathered in Libya’s second largest city of Benghazi on Saturday following the funerals of protesters who were shot the day before. Security forces, wearing distinctive yellow berets, opened fire indiscriminately on the protesters.

Amnesty International called on Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi on Sunday to stop the use of force against the protesters.

“Forces loyal to Col. al-Gaddafi are using unwarranted lethal force against protesters calling for change and the result is a wholly predictable one,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s director for the Middle East and North Africa in a press release. “Large numbers of people are being killed, and the situation is escalating alarmingly. It looks like Libya’s leader may have ordered his forces to put down the protests virtually at any cost, and that cost is being paid in the lives of Libyans.”

Sources at Al Jala Hospital told Amnesty that most of the victims at the Feb. 19 protest had been shot in the head, chest, or neck, suggesting that the security forces intended to kill them. Medical staff from Libya reported they are running out of equipment to treat the wounded.

The Libyan permanent representative to the Arab League has reportedly quit and joined the protesters, reported AFP.

Protests also took places over the weekend in other countries in the region. In Yemen, more the 3,000 university students gathered in the streets. According to the Yemen Post, tens of thousands of people joined protests across the country, while President Ali Abdullah Saleh renewed calls for the opposition to join a dialogue with the ruling party. Large demonstrations also took place in Morocco and Algeria.