• At least five dead in dawn attack on Cairo protesters
* UN struggles to find monitors for Syria
• US tightens sanctions on Syria and Iran
Syria: A Sky News team had an interesting encounter with armed Syrian police yesterday after their camera was seized, its foreign editor Tim Marshall writes.
A police officer carrying an AK-47 wrenched a camera from the journalists, despite their best efforts to resist, after they filmed a small demonstration in the heart of Damascus. Two of the protesters calling for the release of political prisoners were taken away.
Marshall said he ran after the police officer with the camera shouting "Ali Baba! Ali Baba!", which he describes as slang for thief. After he saw two of his colleagues being escorted into the nearby court building complex, Marshall followed them inside. He describes what happened next:
The police were insisting that Nathan delete the footage we had. The atmosphere was tense. I pointed out that under the UN agreement the media had the the right to unhindered access.
Some of the more mature minds realised that they were dealing with a situation which went way beyond a little local difficulty with some foreigners and phone calls were made.
I took the opportunity to seek out the officer I had shouted at. We both apologised and agreed we were only doing our jobs. There were handshakes all round.
Within minutes, we were being driven across town to see the Damascus police chief.
Over tea, he agreed we could keep our equipment and our footage which we subsequently broadcast.
"You are free to show what you like, just tell the truth," he said.
In that sentence, you can hear the frustration in government circles and among their supporters that no-one in the foreign media is telling their side of the story, that millions of people here want the armed uprising to stop.
Marshall expresses some sympathy for the government perspective, adding:
The government here is convinced that the western media is against it, and in that there is some truth. Not enough attention is paid to the atrocities committed by the opposition forces which have taken up arms.
Both sides are engaged in what seems to me to be a fight to the death, with the middle ground of those who believe in dialogue, increasingly isolated.
Three Middle Eastern states – Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia – figure in a list of the world's 10 most-censored countries compiled by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
In the report – issued to mark World Press Freedom Day tomorrow – Syria ranks third, Iran fourth and Saudi Arabia eighth. The CPJ says:
The 10 most restricted countries employ a wide range of censorship techniques, from the sophisticated blocking of websites and satellite broadcasts by Iran to the oppressive regulatory systems of Saudi Arabia and Belarus; from the dominance of state media in North Korea and Cuba to the crude tactics of imprisonment and violence in Eritrea, Uzbekistan, and Syria.
One trait they have in common is some form of authoritarian rule. Their leaders are in power by dint of monarchy, family dynasty, coup d'état, rigged election, or some combination thereof ...
Disputed legitimacy of leadership is at the heart of censorship and media crackdowns in many places. Syria has long been a tightly controlled country, but last year, when regular demonstrations began to call for the ouster of Assad, foreign correspondents were restricted and locals who reported on the uprisings were arrested; the dangerous task of reporting on Assad's brutal military response was left to courageous citizen journalists and foreign reporters who sneaked into the country.
Good morning. Welcome to Middle East live. Throughout the day we shall be monitoring the unrest in Syria and Bahrain while keeping an eye on other countries in the region too. The main story this morning is the killing of protesters by "unknown assailants" during a dawn attack in Cairo.
Egypt
• Security officials say five or more protesters have been killed by armed attackers near the defence ministry building in Cairo. They say the attack at dawn this morning was carried out by unidentified assailants who set upon several hundred protesters who have camped out in the area for days to call for an end to military rule.
Officials say at least 50 protesters were injured in the attack, in which the assailants used rocks, clubs and firebombs, the Associated Press reports.
Many of the protesters are supporters of the Salafist preacher, Hazem Abu Ismail, who was recently disqualified from standing in the presidential election.
Syria
• UN member states have so far offered only 150 monitors for Syria out of the 300 planned, according to peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous. Syria has also refused visas for three of them, the BBC reports.
• In a move to tighten sanctions against Syria and Iran, the US has announced new measures against foreign firms, banks or individuals that engage in "evasive and deceptive activities".
Bahrain
• Riot police again used teargas and stun grenades to rout an anti-government demonstration in the market area of the capital, Manama.