Libya, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Confrontations

2213 GMT: AFP, from local sources, estimates at least 41 people have lost their lives in Libya in violence since Tuesday.

Oea, a newspaper linked to Muammar Gaddafi's son Seif Al Islam, says demonstrators hung two state security officers in Al-Bayda.

2210 GMT: Britain Foreign Office has announced that some arms export authorisations for Bahrain and Libya are being revoked out of concern the weapons could be used to suppress internal unrest.

The Foreign Office said it was still reviewing export licenses for Yemen.

2155 GMT: The Imam of the mosque in Benghazi in Libya has told Al Arabiya that more than 40 people were killed today, including his older brother.

2145 GMT: Authorities in Saudi Arabia have detained founding members of a new political party and told them they must withdraw demands for political reform as a condition for their release, according to members of the party.

The detainees refused to sign the pledge, said the Umma Islamic Party, which was formed earlier this month by 10 university professors, political activists, and business people.

2135 GMT: A security source said that Yemeni police reportedly arrested seven people, including the main suspect in the throwing of a grenade at anti-government protesters in Taiz, injuring at least 16 people.

Media had reported two deaths and about 27 injured in the incident, but the source said all injuries were minor.

2120 GMT: At least 1000 stateless Arabs demonstrated in Jahra, northwest of Kuwait City,demanding citizenship.

Dozens of them were arrested by police, and ambulances rushed wounded protesters and security forces from the scene. A witness told AFP that at least five people were hurt, one of them seriously.

2105 GMT: The BBC, reports from sources in the city, that more tanks are rolling into Benghazi in Libya. Benghazi airport has been closed.

A doctor said earlier that a senior army officer in Benghazi has switched sides and joined the protesters, who have been joined by sections of the Libyan army to take over the airport.

2020 GMT: Nurses sympathising with protesters in Bahrain, "We met them with peace and they met us with bullets":

2018 GMT: A woman from Tripoli in LIbya has told Al Jazeera English about a protest tonight:

They just broke us up. We were about 300 people, and the cops came and they started shooting gunfire at us. They arrested a couple people and we're now, everyone just broke off. We were running. Uh, we're heading to the car, we're trying to get escape. The cops have just broke us off....[We were chanting] "Libya, al-sharg w al-gharb, Libya, al-sharq w al-gharb (Libya, east and west)".

2015 GMT: Miguel Marquez of American ABC News reports 66 injured from today's clashes in Bahrain, four of them seriously (see also 1940 GMT).

2010 GMT: Protest outside Suleimaniyieh Hospital in Bahrain tonight:

1950 GMT: In Egypt, the Supreme Military Council, saying it will not allow disruptions to everyday life or the intimidation of workers, has declared that strikes will not be tolerated.

1940 GMT: CNN, citing hospital sources in Bahrain, says three people were killed in today's Army/police assault and a fourth has serious head injuries.

Reuters reports that a fourth person in Yemen has died from today's violence in "random gunfire" as police tried to disperse demonstrators.

Dima Khatib of Al Jazeera says the channel is now blocked in Libya. There are also reports that Facebook has been barred.

1920 GMT: The King of Bahrain has asked the Crown Prince to start a national dialogue "with all parties".

1915 GMT: Latest Internet chatter, including an Al Jazeera correspondent and claims from the US-backed Al-Hurra, "Reports that anti government protesters commandeer several tanks Libya and others set fire to Radio Benghazi bureau."

1910 GMT: Saqer Al Khalifa, a professor who fervently supports the regime in Bahrain, is loudly declaring that no one died from gunfire today. His latest message, "Many protesters painted themselves with red paint, laid down on street and took photos of themselves."

1830 GMT: Al Jazeera reports Revolutionary Committees, affiliated to the Qaddafi regime, are in control of Libya's capital Tripoli and soldiers are starting to deploy in Benghazi.

1825 GMT: Claimed photograph of protesters putting themselves in front of tanks in Bahrain:

1820 GMT: Over the last couple of hours, the Internet story has been building that Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, is in the hands of protesters after two days of bloody clashes.

We have no confirmation of this, and it is difficult to get any hard news from the city. Anti-regime demonstrators are broadcasting on an Internet radio station that they claim to have taken over.

CNN is claiming from a medical source that at least 20 people have died in the city today.

1810 GMT: Thousands of people have been on the streets in Djibouti, calling on President Ismael Omar Guelleh to step down.

1755 GMT: A photograph from a pro-regime demonstration in Bahrain today:

1640 GMT: Youm7 reports on today's mass rally in Alexandria calling for implementation of the "demands of the Revolution". It also notes a demonstration in Ismailia.

Protesters in Sinai calling for the release of detainees:

1550 GMT: As his security forces were shooting protesters, Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa was saying on state TV, "It is now the duty of every Sunni and Shia to calm things down for the sake of the country."

1540 GMT: The latest from this afternoon's Army/police assault upon protesters moving towards Pearl Roundabout:

Reporters claim that police continued their charge "several hundred metres up the road, firing into a residential neighbourhood" and attacked protesters in Suleimaniyia Hospital.

Nicholas Kristof of the New York Timessays there is at least one death (aanother report to CNN says) and about 20 injured but ambulance crews say there will be "many, many more".

1515 GMT: In Libya, a nurse in Benghazi has told Britain's Channel 4 News that armed uniformed men are storming hospitals and taking wounded away in the middle of the night.

1505 GMT: An ambulance worker tells CNN that at least four people have died from Army/police gunfire near Pearl Roundabout in Bahrain. An Al Jazeera English correspondent says the casualties are from live fire, not birdshot or rubber bullets. New York Times' Nick Kristof says most casualties have head wounds.

1501 GMT: Emile Hokayem is one of several journalists to send message, "Intense gunfire at Lulu [Pearl Roundabout]. Likely live rounds." "Dozens" of police vehicles have rushed to the scene.

1500 GMT: A doctor in Benghazi in Libya claims from two colleagues that 39 people have been killed in Benghazi and al-Baida.

1455 GMT: New York Times' Nicholas Kristof and AP's Hadeel Al-Shalchi say Bahrain's Army has been firing on protesters.

1450 GMT: Security forces have fired on protesters who tried to reach Pearl Roundabout. There are reports of wounded, and panicked crowds running through Salmaniyieh Hospital as doctors rush to emergency rooms. Tear gas grenades have reportedly been used outside the hospital.

1400 GMT: Doctors and nurses protest outside Salmaniyieh Hospital in Manama in Bahrain:

1355 GMT: In Yemen, medics have told AFP that two people were killed and 27 wounded when a hand grenade was thrown into the camp of anti-Government protesters in Taiz.

1325 GMT: Funerals for victims of this week's violence in Libya are underway. An unconfirmed report from a freelance editor for CNN says more than 100,000 are on the streets of Benghazi and more than 10,000 in Al-Bayda.

1310 GMT: In Jordan, about 2,000 protesters went on the streets of Amman after Friday Prayers, chanting: "It's not about bread but dignity. We prefer death to humiliation."

About 200 Government supporters countered, "With our blood and soul we sacrifice our lives to Abu Hussein [King Abdullah II]." Clashes soon erupted with sticks and stones, but Jordanian police intervened to restore order."

1305 GMT: An anti-Government protester has been shot dead in Aden in Yemen. AFP says that four have been wounded in Sanaa. Press TV reports that a bomb has injured 25 demonstrators.

1230 GMT: The latest from Libya....

Troops are reportedly on the streets from Benghazi, the country's second-largest city, as Revolutionary Committees threaten a "swift and violent" response to "adventurers" in anti-gvovernment demonstrations". State TV has broadcast footage of Col Gaddafi getting a rapturous welcome on at a pro-government rally in Tripoli amongst banners such as "Gaddafi, Father of the People" and "The Crowd Supports the Revolution and its Leader". State TV also claimed rallies in cities such as Benghazi and Sirte.

There are reports of a large anti-regime rally in Benghazi. Several demonstrating lawyers are said to have been arrested.

1220 GMT: State-run Bahrain TV is claiming that more 70,000 people are demonstrating in support of the Government and "the numbers are increasing".

In Yemen, at least 10,000 supporters of President Ali Abdullah Saleh are in the streets of Taiz, 200 km (134 miles) south of the capital Sanaa. Thousands of Saleh's opponents are gathering in the city's Hurriya (Freedom) Square, where they have camped out for days.

1130 GMT: Back from an academic break to pick up on ceremonies and protests....

In Bahrain, the Friday Prayers sermon at Fateh Mosque has called for security and loyalty to Bahrain King.

In contrast, Friday Prayers in Tahrir Square in Cairo has brought out hundreds of thousands of people in the "Day of Victory and Continuation". In the center of the square memorials were set up for the close to 400 people killed during the uprising against President Mubarak as demonstrators chanted, "The people demand the trial of the regime."

The Friday Prayer was led by prominent Muslim scholar Yusuf al-Qaradawi, his first public sermon since he was banned from leading weekly prayerst 30 years ago.

In Iraq, protests have taken place at various locations over corruption, poor basic services and high unemployment.

In Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, about 1,000 people demanded better services from the Government, jobs, and improved pensions. They called for the provincial governor to resign, and blocked a bridge for an hour.

In Yemen, at least 1500 anti-government demonstrators have been marching through the streets of the capital Sana'a, chanting "peace" and demanding regime change.

0805 GMT: More than 20,000 are now reported at the funeral in Sitra in Bahrain. At least 16 journalists are being refused entry at the airport in Manama.

A photo from the funeral:

0755 GMT: Video has been posted of an English-language interview with Dr Sadiq Ekri,  beaten savagely by police as he tried to help the injured on Thursday, from his hospital bed.

0745 GMT: Martin Chulov of The Guardian reports, "I'm at a funeral rally for a plain protester in Bahrain's Sitra area. 10k+ people. Chanting. Angry. But peaceful."

Hadeel Al-Shalchi of The Associated Press sends the message, "Spoke to brother of fallen young man. Said he 'used to demand for PM to step down, now all ruling family must go'".

0715 GMT: We begin this morning with a feature summarising the dramatic and bloody developments of Thursday, "Bahrain, Libya, and All the Way to Syria: Summarising the Day of Rage". Al Jazeera English also features a summary of events in Bahrain.

Funerals are underway for the victims of Thursday's attack by Bahrain's police. Activists are claiming a crowd of 15,000 people in Karzakan. Martin Chulov of The Guardian reports, at another funeral procession, that there is "high tension" but no sign of riot police.