Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Policemen on Strike

A woman runs for cover during clashes in Port Said in Egypt on Thursday (Photo: Khalil Hamra/AP)

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2011 GMT:Iraq. Minister of Agriculture Ezz al-Din al-Dawla quit today over the killing of a protester in the northern city of Mosul.

Police said they fired shots into the air to disperse a crowd of stone-throwing demonstrators.

Ezz al-Din al-Dawla is the second Iraqi minister to announce his resignation over the handling of mainly-Sunni protests, staged daily against the al-Maliki Government since December.

"I announce my resignation before the Iraqi people and my people in Mosul because there is no way to continue any longer with a government that does not respond to my people's demands," said Dawla, a member of the Sunni-backed Iraqiyya Bloc, in a televised news conference.

Minister of Finance Rafa al-Issawi, whose home and offices were raided by security forces in December, quit earlier this month.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets again in the cities of Mosul, Samarra, and Kirkuk and in Anbar Province on Friday. They again demanded the release of detainees and the scrapping of anti-terrorism laws they say are unfairly used against them.

1256 GMT:Israel and Palestine. Israeli police have fired stun grenades to disperse Palestinian worshippers after Friday prayers at the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Micky Rosenfeld, spokesman for the Israeli police, accused the crowd of rioting after finishing their prayers.

1125 GMT:Egypt. One protestor, 33-year old Karim Atout, was killed by a gunshot to the head by police in Port Said during clashes with demonstrators yesterday.

At least seven people have been killed in this week's protests in Port Said - three security officials and four civilians – as tensions between authorities and protestors continue following the sentencing to death of 21 people involved in football riots last year.

Meanwhile, police went on strike in Ismailia and Tanta, demanding more arms and legal protection during clashes.

In Alexandria, however, dozens of police held a peaceful protest against the politicisation of their work and chanting “the police are not against the people.”

1009 GMT:Saudi Arabia. The government of Saudi Arabia has accused online activists of using social media to stir up protests, which are illegal in the kingdom, by using “false information” about the country’s number of prisoners.

Major General Mansour Turki, the Interior Ministry’s security spokesman said "There are people who misuse the social networking and try to send false information. They use (it) to make some families go outside and try to protest, saying you should release our husbands or our fathers or our sons.”

Last week 161 people were arrested in Buraidh during demonstrations against the continued incarceration of thousands of people detained by the kingdom’s security forces.

0926 GMT:Egypt. The Egyptian daily Almasry Alyoum reports that the 'We Are All Khaled Said' Facebook page has posted a video showing a teacher violently assaulting a student.

The Facebook page, created in 2010 in tribute to Khaled Said, who died after being arrested by police in Alexandria in June 2010, has attracted 2.8 million 'likes' and has become Egypt's largest dissident Facebook page.

Almasry Alyoum highlighted the video as part of a discussion of the ongoing problem of teacher-student violence in Egyptian schools and noted that education minister Dr Ibrahim Ghoneim stated last year that corporal punishment was acceptable as long as it was not extreme.

0922 GMT:Egypt. According to undersecretary Gamal Fahmy the Journalists Syndicate has challenged the forensic report on Al-Husseini Abu Deif, a reporter who died in clashes between supporters and opponents of President Morsi in December.

The challenge questions the accuracy of the report, claiming it is unreliable as the coroner did not have access to either the prosecutors’ report or eyewitness testimonies that would give a fuller picture of the incident.

The report in question concluded that in addition to injuries and abrasions on his body, Deif died from a shot to the head, which resulted in bleeding and skull lacerations.

0755 GMT: Egypt. Thousands of low-ranking policemen enter the fifth day of their strike,  protesting what they claim is the politicisation of the force in favour of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In Cairo, dozens of policemen blocked the entrance to a main police station, chanting against President Morsi’s policies. Others held a sit-in outside Morsi’s house in his hometown of Zagazig, northeast of the capital.

The Ministry Interior said in a statement that it "stands at equal distance from all parties", and it is objective in its duties.