Robert Pogson

The situation in Libya has heated up. The government of Libya has brought in African mercenaries who are ruthless. The death-toll mounts. In Bahrain, the army and police have withdrawn from the Pearl Roundabout, allowing protestors to reoccupy that area. Let us hope this is not a strategic move to create a free firing zone. Let us hope it is a move towards actual dialogue. In Yemen violence continues.

The situation in Libya is very violent. Much of the east of the country has been taken over by protests and the government is killing many every day. Plain-clothes police/paramilitary mix with the protestors and use clubs and firearms.

What amazes me about all this is not that some regimes see their preservation in atrocities but that the protestors do not swarm the police and military and wipe them out. It takes a lot of nerve to return to the same place where shootings have occurred to confront the people who did the shooting unarmed. Of course, these regimes have taken pains to prevent access to firearms but there is always a way. In Egypt we saw protestors using stones and Molitov cocktails but not in these other countries. Some government buildings have been burned however.

Coverage is sporadic as the Internet is very slow in places but several networks are doing a good job:

• Al Jazeera
• BBC
• CNN
• FOX