Customs employees at Adabiya Seaport in the Suez Canal Zone refused to allow a seven-ton shipment of tear gas to pass, and were detained for questioning by security officials. Two more such shipments are en route from Wilmington, Del.
New street clashes broke out in Cairo after a young protester was killed when he was run over by a police truck. An ongoing sit-in at the cabinet building has been launched to demand a civilian-led “national salvation government.”
Four men have been killed in protests this week by the Shi’ite minority in Saudi Arabia’s east, while protest leaders in Yemen rejected a deal for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, saying it leaves his ruling structure intact.
Anonymous Israeli security officials told Haaretz newspaper they believe Turkey is preparing a military intervention in Syria, seeking to create a secure buffer zone on the border where armed opposition forces can operate.
Protests rocked Cairo for a sixth day, as security forces again used tear gas in another effort to clear Tahrir Square. Over 30 are now dead in the street-fighting. The Muslim Brotherhood has split over whether to join the protest movement.
Kuwait’s emir has ordered authorities to tighten security in the Persian Gulf mini-state after the parliament building was stormed by dozens of protesters demanding a probe of corruption claims and an end to the ban on political parties.
Up to 20,000 people remain in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, with thousands more in surrounding streets, despite ongoing efforts by security forces to remove them in a third consecutive day of protests. Over 20 have now been killed in the protests.
Hundreds of protesters against Egypt’s military rulers remain camped in Cairo’s Tahrir Square for a third day, retaking the plaza in clashes with security forces after being evicted in a police assault. At least 13 protesters were killed.
Egyptian riot police firing tear gas and rubber bullets stormed into Cairo’s Tahrir Square to break up a protest tent camp, sparking clashes that injured at least 500. Protests and deadly repression are meanwhile fast escalating in Syria and Yemen.
An Egyptian court overturned a ban that prohibited presidential hopeful Ayman Nour from officially forming the Islamic-based political party Gama’a al-Islamiya. But the ruling military council instated a ban on religious-based campaign slogans.
Syria has rejected calls from several nations to join the International Criminal Court according to a report adopted by the UN Human Rights Council, which again called for the regime to halt its violent crackdown on anti-government protests.
Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad has been on hunger strike for 48 days to protest his imprisonment on charges of criticizing the armed forces. HIs appeal hearing has been repeatedly postponed in what Reports Without Borders calls a stalling tactic.
