don’t forget Bahrain

A fairly dramatic protest shaping up in Pearl Square in Manama on this Friday:

1406: In Bahrain, the BBC’s Owen Bennett-Jones describes a column of demonstrators occupying a three-lane road leading into Pearl Square, which has been the focal point for anti-government protesters. He says people are marching 40 abreast and the column goes on for kilometres. He says a similar column has approached the square from another direction.

1409: Protesters in Bahrain won back Pearl Square from troops and police who had been guarding it after the authorities ordered them to pull out. This had been one of the key demands of protesters after several days of clashes left at least six people dead. The protesters also want democratic reforms, possibly leading to a constitutional monarchy. But some protesters want to see the monarchy gone altogether, says the BBC’s Owen Bennett-Jones in Manama.