Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Hollow Declarations
Thursday, November 3, 2011 at 22:42 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran See also Bahrain Feature: A New "Martyr"? The Death of Ali Hassan Al Daihi
Middle East Audio: Scott Lucas With Monocle Radio About Al Jazeera
Egypt Letter: Returning to Mubarak's Prisons (Alaa)
Wednesday's Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Catalyst of Alaa's Detention
1747 GMT: The Bahrain Justice and Development Movement have posted an English-language account of the death of 70-year-old Ali Hassan Aldaihi, allegedly beaten by riot police as he returned home last night.
Aldaihi, the father of the Deputy Secretary General of the leading opposition party Al Wefaq, was found by his son. He was taken to hospital with head injuries but died at 12.30 a.m. after a cardiac arrest.
Aldaihi's home was attacked in September with rubber bullets fired into it.
1637 GMT: So, yesterday the Syrian government enters into an agreement with the Arab League, pledging among other things to withdraw troops and tanks and stop the bloodshed. What happened? A bloody day, with tanks deployed everywhere. Tomorrow, opposition groups are planning to put Assad's pledge to the test, with massive demonstrations scheduled in many locations. Many of our sources are buzzing that we may see protests in Damascus tomorrow. The Guardian's Martin Chulov thinks so too:
Two activists in Damascus said protests were being organised under a premise that nothing had changed. "Tomorrow [Friday] we will see how serious they are," one said. "I think they cannot afford to take the tanks from the streets just yet."