Store demonstrationer i mange af de største byer i Libyen er tilsyneladende ved at udvikle sig til en tragedie. Meldinger om 24-84 døde, måske hundredevis; hundredevis af sårede. Lad os ikke håbe, Gaddafi overlever dette.
Update: Hos Arabawy faldt jeg også over denne supplerende øjenvidneberetning:
Kristne egyptere slår ring om bedende muslimer på Tahrir-pladsen for at beskytte dem mod angreb fra Mubarak-regimets bøller.
Jeg har tidligere fortalt, hvordan Egyptens koptiske kristne nu forventer bedre og mere tolerante tider, efter Mubaraks fald. De allestedsnærværende vagtlokaler uden for kristne kirke er ikke længere bemandede, for folk er ikke længere bange for angreb.
Det samme gælder for jøderne og deres synagoger, skriver Egyptian Chronicles:
Do you know that during the last 18 or even 20 days in Egypt there has not been a single guard from the police force protecting the Jewish synagogues in the country !!?
Do you know that there has not been a single attack against a single synagogue recorded in the country ?
Do you know that the synagogues in Down town were not attacked or harmed from any kind ?
Men: Hvis folk i Egypten ikke har noget særligt imod kristne og jøder og det i en sådan grad, at minoriteterne slet ikke har brug for Mubarak-tidens beskyttelse, nu hvor politiet er som sunket i jorden, hvem stod så bag de sidste mange års forfølgelse af kopterne? Hvem stod bag bomben mod en kirke i Alexandria, som dræbte 21 mennesker omkring nytår og fik tusinder af egyptiske muslimer til at slå kreds om de kristne og stille sig op som menneskelige skjolde til kristne gudstjenester rundt omkring?
Sagen er endnu ikke opklaret, men de foreliggende oplysninger tyder særdeles stærkt på, at det var Mubaraks indenrigsminister Habib El Adly, der stod bag. Daily Kos citerede 7/2 “britiske efterretningskilder” for, at man efter de store fangeflugter i den egyptiske revolutions første dage kom i kontakt med flygtede fanger, der forbandt El Adny med bomberne:
A British diplomat revealed before the Chambers of the French Palace, Elysee, the reason for the insistence of England to demand the departure of the Egyptian President and his team, especially the Ministry of Interior, which was administered by the Minister Habib Al-Adli, the reason is that British intelligence confirmed, from audio and paper Egyptian official documents , that the sacked Egyptian Interior Minister Habib Al-Adli had formed six years ago, a special body run by 22 officers, and consists of some members of Islamic groups, which spent years in the prisons of the Interior ministry, number of drug dealers, teams of security companies, and number of registered risk of ex-offenders, who were divided into groups according to geographical regions and political affiliation, this body is able to be a comprehensive sabotage all over Egypt in case the regime is subjected to any threat.
The British intelligence also revealed that Major Fathi Abdel Wahed, who is close to the former Minister Habib Al-Adli, started on 11 December to prepare “Ahmed Mohamed Khaled” (who spent eleven years in the prisons of the Egyptian Interior Ministry) for the connect to a radical Egyptian group, as to push it to hit Saints Church in Alexandria. Ahmed al-Khalid succeeded in making contacts to a radical movement in Egypt, its name (Jundullah), and told her that he has equipment which he got from Gaza, that could explode the Church in order to “discipline the Copts”. Muhammad Abd al-Hadi (leader of Jundullah) liked the idea, and recruited an element named Abdul Rahman Ahmed Ali. Abdul Rahman was told that he will park the car, which will explode on its own later, but Major Fathi Abdul Wahid himself was the one who exploded the car remotely, by wireless device, and before Abdel-Rahman Ahmed Ali the victim could step out of the car.
Thus happened the horrific crime that shook Egypt and the world last year’s new Eve.
Daily News Egypt fortæller, at anklagemyndigheden er i færd med at undersøge beskyldningerne mod El Adly. Al Arabiya har også historien. Der har endnu ikke været nogen retssag om bomberne i Alexandria, men El Adly er i forvejen anholdt, anklaget for korruption, bedrageri og for at beordre sine sikkerhedsstyrker til at åbne ild mod demonstranter. Det kan i hvert fald forklare, hvorfor Egyptens kirker og synagoger pludselig ikke længere har brug for vagter: Fordi de folk, som havde en interesse i at sætte befolkningsgrupperne op mod hinanden, nu er sat fra bestillingen.
Zaz alias Isabelle Geffroy fik sit gennembrud i 2010 og lægger sig mellem fransk visekunst og mere traditionel jazz. Sangen hedder “Les passants“.
PS: Hvis du ser denne sang, vil du ikke fortryde det. Den er rimeligt mindblowing.
Update: “Passe, passe, passera, la dernière restera” er fra en fransk børnesang og betyder noget i retning af det kendte: “Første gang så lader vi ham gå, anden gang så lige så, men tredje gang så tager vi ham og putter ham i gryden.” Her kan du finde en engelsk oversættelse af sangteksten.
Erklæring fra Amnesty International. Fik jeg nævnt, at regeringen i Bahrain er en af USAs allervigtigste allierede i Golfen, og at Hillary Clinton opfordrer til tilbageholdenhed “fra begge sider”? Ifølge Al Jazeeras live-dækning er mindst 66 sårede indlagt i dag, værre tilredt end ved gårsdagens demonstrationer. Antallet af døde og sårede kan forventes at stige.
Øjenvidner fortæller, at det både er hæren og politiet, der skyder på civilbefolkningen. Herunder endnu et klip, der viser nogle af resultaterne af disse skyderier:
Måske ikke. Marokko har reserveret den 20. februar, som du kan se på videoen herover.
Saudi-Arabien virker måske stabilt, men bloggeren Saudi Woman mener, at det syder og gærer også her:
Everywhere I go and everything I read points to a revolution in our own country in the foreseeable future. However we are still on the ledge and haven’t jumped yet.
I know that some analysts are worried particularly of Saudi Arabia being taken over by Al Qaeda or a Sunni version of the Iranian Islamic Revolution. Calm down. Besides my gut feeling (which is rarely wrong), the overwhelming majority of people speaking out and calling out for a revolution are people who want democracy and civil rights and not more of our current Arab tradition based adaptation of Sharia. My theory of why that is, is that Al Qaeda has already exhausted its human resources here. The available muttawas, are career muttawas (fatwa sheikhs) and minor muttawas (PVPV) of convenience both paid by the government and do not want the current win-win deal between them and the government to sour. So it’s unlikely that they would actively seek change. Actually quite the opposite, they will resist and delay as much as they can. Fortunately the winds of change can’t be deterred by a PVPV cruiser.
(…)Another thing that needs to be done is to aggressively fight corruption and promote transparency and accountability for everyone no matter who they are. If these two issues are taken care of as soon as he gets off the plane, then I predict that things just might calm down and a lot of people won’t be so anxious for change. If not, then the campaign above will just grow bigger and bigger and many more will crop up until eventually the Saudi people will cross the revolution threshold.
Så måske der inden alt for længe kommer en dato for Saudi-Arabien, som man kan følge på Twitter – ligesom du allerede nu kan følge #feb20 for Marokko.
Hærdede læger bryder grædende sammen over den rå politivold, og bøllerne går til angreb på frivillige læger og sygeplejersker, der forsøger at hjælpe de sårede. Imens opfordrer Hillary Clinton “begge sider” til at vise tilbageholdenhed.
Og hvad der det da, de væmmelige demonstranter forlanger, siden denne vold kan være berettiget? Mahmood Al-Yousif formulerer det i Bahrain-termer:
1. Bilateral Constitutional amendments which are binding to address the contentious current Constitution of 2002
2. The immediate release of political prisoners, some 450 are incarcerated many of whom are children under 18 years of age
3. Release and increase press freedoms, repeal Law 47/2002
4. Guard and increase personal freedoms and freedoms of expression
5. Investigate corruption and return stolen wealth into the state coffers
6. Repeal Law 56/2002 and bring torturers to justice
Kort fortalt – ytringsfrihed, forfatningsgaranterede menneskerettigheder, løsladelse af politiske fanger, stop for tortur, stop for korruption. Indtil videre har de ikke krævet kongens afgang. Men hvor længe varer det?
Update:Nicholas Kristof fra New York Times skriver, meget passende og som supplement både til Al Jazeeras dækning og Mahmoods opsummering af demonstranternes krav:
Bahrain’s leaders may whisper to American officials that the democracy protesters are fundamentalists inspired by Iran. That’s ridiculous. There’s no anti-Americanism in the protests — and if we favor “people power” in Iran, we should favor it in Bahrain as well.
Walk with protesters here, and their grievances seem eminently reasonable. One woman, Howra, beseeched me to write about her brother, Yasser Khalil, who she said was arrested in September at the age of 15 for vague political offenses. She showed me photos of Yasser injured by what she described as beatings by police.
Another woman, Hayat, said that she had been shot with rubber bullets twice this week. After hospitalization (which others confirmed), she painfully returned to the streets to continue to demand more democracy. “I will sacrifice my life if necessary so my children can have a better life,” she said.
America has important interests at stake in Bahrain — and important values.
And all space is left to the violence of a government that doesn’t seem to care about its citizens.
Dialogue is replaced with shotguns, tear gas and hundreds of riot police all exerting an inordinate amount of violence against unarmed civilians.
That was what faced unarmed sleeping civilians – men, women, children, old men and women – this pre-dawn residing in the Pearl Roundabout.
One would be forgiven for assuming that at least to those present there, and the families of the four more killed by riot-police shotguns at the roundabout this morning, not only the government has lost its credibility, but also the royal family.
Al Jazeera skriver, at mindst to demonstranter blev dræbt og mange såret. Og så bad den amerikanske regering i en erklæring i går “begge sider” vise tilbageholdenhed. Det er det samme, som de sagde i Egypten. Og det er da også for galt, at de fredelige demonstranter, der lå og sov med deres børn, ikke formåede at vise mere “tilbageholdenhed” …
Meget af de senere års forfølgelse og uro i forbindelse med Egyptens koptere var i virkeligheden anstiftet af Mubarak-regimet, der således håbede på at sikre sit eget styre ved at problematisere mindretallene og spille de etniske og religiøse grupper ud mod hinanden.
Siden revolutionen er der slet ikke de samme sikkerhedsforanstaltninger omkring de kristne kirker som under Mubarak, og alligevel har der endnu ikke været et eneste angreb eller optræk til uro mellem kristne og muslimer. Nu er der jo ikke længere en diktator, der kan profitere af at skabe sådanne spændinger, kunne man fristes til at sige. Ingen af os ved endnu, hvad fremtiden vil bringe, men Egyptens kristne har mere håb for fremtiden, end de havde tidligere. Reportage ved Al Jazeera.
Demonstranter i Bahrain tirsdag d. 15. februar. Fotografi: Mahmood Al-Yousif.
Bahrain er som en lille og ganske velhavende østat i Golfen en helt anden slags land end Egypten. Men tag ikke fejl: Det ulmer, og utilfredsheden med det indspiste og korrupte kongedømme er, som andre steder i den arabiske verden, kraftigt forstærker af inspirationen fra Egypten og Tunesien.
Mandag angreb myndighederne en demonstration med tåregas og hagl, og en demonstrant blev dræbt. Da omkring ti tusind mennesker i går ville begrave ham, angreb politiet igen og dræbte endnu en demonstrant. Folk er vrede, og tusindvis af mennesker har nu slået sig ned i Manamas centrale “Pearl Roundabout”, som de har omdøbt til “Tahrir Roundabout”. Oprindelig krævede de blot reformer og en ny regering, men efter de to drab lyder kravet: “The People Want to Overthrow the Regime“, som Mahmood fortæller:
Arriving at the Salmaniya Medical Complex – the main health facility in the island and in which the mortuary is located, I noticed three police jeeps with some ten or so riot police milling about just opposite one of the entrances of the hospital nearest to the mortuary. I paid them no heed as I thought that they must’ve been there as a token force and they won’t dare do anything when the funeral cortege passes by in an hour or so. I carried on and went in to the mortuary and joined the several hundred mourners already present there, with a lot more pouring in as time went by. The atmosphere, though tense, remained peaceful with occasional political and religious chants. Once the body was brought out, the crowd galvanised and started moving in an orderly and peaceful fashion to the main exit. The plan was to bury Ali Abdulhadi Mushaimi in the nearby village of Jiddhaffs’ cemetery, just a few kilometers away.
But as we arrived at the gate to exit – and I was almost at the front of the mourners – the tear gas was fired at us and live bird-shot too was fired into the crowd, the latter was the ammunition whcih was used to kill Ali Mushaimi, the person we were carrying to his final resting place. I didn’t know it at the time, but another martyr was mowed down not more than ten meters ahead of me. Fadhel Almatrouk now joins the pantheon of fallen Bahraini martyrs. I suspect that he won’t be the last. The people of Bahrain have paid dear with their lives over decades fighting for their rights and will continue to do so until their rightful demands are met.
Unable to breath and faced with an inordinate use of force against unarmed civilians, the cortège driver decided to drive away from that exit and attempt to get out another exit on the other side of the hospital. People were scrambling about trying to protect themselves and show respect to the deceased at the same time; however, even that was not to be. The so called security forces encircled the protestors between the original exit and the one at the far end and started shooting tear gas at us inside the hospital grounds. Some protestors out of anger and frustration started lobbing stones at the police, but when I shouted at them to keep it peaceful with another phrase taken from our brothers in Tunisia and Egypt (سلميه سلميه) others took up the cry and prevented demonstrators from resorting to violence.
Tåregas mod demonstranter i Bahrain. Foto: Mahmood Al-Yousif.
The tear gas was choking us. With eyes streaming and lungs on fire, we sped off after the cortege to continue to be faced by the riot police and their liberal use of tear gas. The avenues and lanes around the hospital were saturated with people walking away in the direction of the chosen grave yard, but coughing and trying to cope as much as possible with the poisonous atmosphere. People, though, were stopping and helping each other. Some producing tissues to help wipe away eyes and others sharing their water or offering a helping hand when needed. The atmosphere, though charged, was still determined. We are going to do good by the fallen martyr.
Several international journalists were in attendance, from Reuters to the New York Times – both of which interviewed me along with several people in the crowd. Wa’ad’s Ebrahim Sharif and MPs from the main Al-Wefaq political party were in attendance and they too were interviewed by probably all journalists present. The common denominator to most of the answers were the need for real reform of the government, the constitution, addressing corruption and attending to the people’s needs.
By the time the body was interred, people streamed out of the area in the direction of the capital Manama, specifically to the Pearl Roundabout, a main landmark celebrating the unity of the Gulf Cooperation Council, but now rechristened by the protestors as “Bahrain’s Tahrir Roundabout” with people camping there under make-shift tents complete with their blankets and necessities fully intending to stay until their demands are met. From the latest pictures I’ve seen, there must be considerably more than ten thousand.
Bahrain er et lille land, og demonstranterne er oppe mod kolossale odds. Styret slår ned med jernhånd, og som overalt i regionen har regeringen forsøgt at bestikke borgerne med indrømmelser og økonomisk kompensation, og Bahrain har selv forsøgt sig med at sende en engangs-check på 2500 dollars til samtlige husstande.
Men det er ikke det, det handler om: Folk vil have deres frihed, også i Bahrain; eller, som Mahmood formulerer det: “They will not stop and they should not stop until basic demands are met: respect for human rights, better political and economic rights and proper freedoms of the press, expression and personal freedoms along with a representative government and parliament rather than the sham we currently have.” Måtte de få det snart.
