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Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Bloody Friday in Bahrain, Libya and Yemen With Scores Dead

Staff Reporters |
February 18, 2011 | 12:35 p.m. PST

Clashes in Yemen.
Clashes in Yemen.
Blood flowed the in the streets of Libya, Bahrain and Yemen Friday as a wave of protest and revolt continued to rock the Arab world.

"Scores" have been killed in Libya as thousands of protesters defied a government clamp down Friday and fought pitched battles with security forces in several Libyan cities.

Al Jazeera reports that mourners themselves came under fires from troops and security forces:

Marchers mourning dead protesters in Libya's second-largest city have reportedly come under fire from security forces, as protests in the oil-exporting North African nation entered their fifth day.

Mohamed el-Berqawy, an engineer in Benghazi, told Al Jazeera that the city was the scene of a "massacre," and that four demonstrators had been killed on Friday.

"Where is the United Nations ... where is (US president Barack) Obama, where is the rest of the world, people are dying on the streets," he said. "We are ready to die for our country."

Verifying news from Libya has been difficult since protests began, thanks to restrictions on journalists entering the country, as well as internet and mobile phone black outs imposed by the government. But Human Rights Watch has reported that at least 24 protesters have been killed so far, and sources on the ground have said that number could be as high as 50.

 

Meanwhile, in the turbulent and strategic oil kingdom of Bahrain, blood also flowed as troops opened fire Friday eve on peaceful protesters, wounding more than 60.  From Al Jazeera: "The circumstances of the shooting after nightfall on Friday were not clear. Officials at the main Salmaniya hospital said at least 66 people were injured, some with gunshot wounds to the head and chest."

" Some doctors and medics on emergency medical teams were in tears as they tended to the wounded. X-rays showed bullets still lodged inside victims."
'This is a war,' said Dr. Bassem Deif, an orthopedic surgeon examining people with bullet-shattered bones.

Protesters described a chaotic scene of tear gas clouds, bullets coming from many directions and people slipping in pools of blood as they sought cover."

Hospitals in Bahrain are flooded with victims.

Egypt was one briught spot in the region as it celebrated with a tremendous 'Victory March' early Friday to mark the one-week anniversary of President Hosni Mubarak's resignation.

But that was the only bright spot.

Violence also flared in Yemen
when tens of thousands came out into the streets for a "Ftiday of Fury. At least three people were reported killed as the protests continued into the night.

An Al Jazeera video on the aftermath of the latest shootings.



 

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