Protesters in Tahrir Square, Egypt. Photograph: Esam Omran Al-Fetori/Reuters
AP has an update on the protester killed during clashes between police and demonstrators in Cairo early this morning.
The man who was killed was run over by one of the vehicles, but there were conflicting accounts about the circumstances surrounding the death.The Interior Ministry expressed regret for the death of the protester, identified as Ahmed Serour, and said it was an accident.Police didn't intend to storm the sit-in but were merely heading to the Interior Ministry headquarters, located behind the Cabinet building, when they came under attack by angry protesters throwing firebombs, it said in a statement.The ministry claimed security forces were injured and the driver of one of the vehicles panicked and ran over the protester.One of the protesters, Mohammed Zaghloul, 21, said he saw six security vehicles heading to their site."It became very tense, rock throwing started and the police cars were driving like crazy," he said. "Police threw one tear gas canister and all of a sudden we saw our people carrying the body of a man who was bleeding really badly."Video clips posted on social networking sites also showed protesters rushing to rescue a heavily bleeding man they said was killed when a police vehicle ran over him.
Video footage of the incident in which Egyptian protester Ahmed Soroor is reported to have been injured has been posted on YouTube.
Associated Press earlier reported that one of its cameramen saw three police troop carriers and an armoured vehicle being chased off by rock-throwing protesters. The security forces fired tear gas in return.
A medical official subsequently confirmed that one protester was killed in the incident, according to the news agency. Witnesses said the man was killed when a police vehicle ran over him.
However, some protesters and bloggers in Cairo dispute AP's version of events, with some suggesting Soroor may have been shot. There are images of a bloodied and possibly dying young man lying on the ground in other videos posted to YouTube.
The protester killed in Cairo early this morning has been named on Twitter as Ahmed Soroor.
A photo of his mother protesting outside the cabinet building has been posted on the social networking site.
Three US students arrested during a protest in Cairo have left Egypt following their release earlier this week.
Luke Gates, 21, and Derrik Sweeney, 19, and Gregory Porter, 19, were arrested on the roof of a university building near Cairo's Tahrir Square last Sunday. Officials accused them of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters.
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An Egyptian court ordered their release on Thursday. All were studying at the American University in Cairo.
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An Egyptian court ordered their release on Thursday. All were studying at the American University in Cairo.
Lawyer Theodore Simon, who represents Porter, a student at Drexel University in Philadelphia, said police escorted the three students to Cairo airport yesterday.
"I am pleased and thankful to report that Gregory Porter is in the air. He has departed Egyptian airspace and is on his way home," Simon said.
Reuters has interviewed some of the young Egyptian activists standing in the country's election on Monday.
Youth activist and parliamentary candidate Shahir George told the news agency:
Whether we win or lose in this election, we'll keep going. We will evaluate our mistakes, learn from them and prepare for the next battle. There are still many to fight. The street will always be there.In a coffee-house in his Cairo constituency, where he is running on an Egypt Freedom Party ticket, George said the challenge was to forge a new model of politics.We won't have a young parliament, but Egypt as a whole now has a more youthful face. The opportunities available for youth representation are very promising.I want to be seen on the street not just as a rebel, but as a viable political alternative. Even if I don't win, it is important to participate to show that youth aren't just capable of toppling the regime, but have a vision for Egypt.
Abdullah Helmy, a member of the newly formed Reform and Development Party, added:
The new Egypt will be more youthful because youth have thrust themselves upon the political scene. All political groups are now racing to strengthen themselves with those youth.
Amnesty International has sent a fact-finding team to Egypt to investigate human rights violations committed against pro-democracy protesters in Cairo, Alexandria and elsewhere.
The human rights organisation said it plans to monitor any abuses carried out during the elections, currently scheduled to start on Monday.
A Syrian human rights activist says the pregnant wife of a Syrian dissident has been kidnapped in Cairo.
Ammar Qurabi, head of the National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria, said in a statement that Mona al-Gharib, 25, was kidnapped on Friday at noon, AP reports. The group believes Syrian government agents were responsible.
An Egyptian police official said Gharib's husband Thaer al-Nashef has filed a complaint about the kidnapping, which he was alerted to via an anonymous text message.
Qurabi, who is based in Cairo, said Nashef had been receiving threats for some time.
Syrian analyst Rime Allaf, an associate fellow at the foreign affairs think tank Chatham House, has warned that Arab League sanctions could provoke an even more bloody crackdown by President Bashar al-Assad on pro-democracy protesters.
Her warning came after Syria missed a deadline set by the league for it to allow in international observers or face a vote on sanctions. The league is meeting today to decide on possible punishments, which could include halting flights and imposing a freeze on financial dealings and assets, according to deputy secretary-general Ahmed Ben Heli.
Allaf, an associate fellow at the foreign affairs think tank Chatham House, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that Assad's regime was digging its heels in in the face of international pressure.
She said sanctions "would be very hard on Syrian people first of all" but were the only option to try to weaken the regime.
Given that nothing else has worked so far and given that the Libyan-style intervention isn't really on the table for anybody, they are hoping that a mixture of sanctions both political and economic would push the regime even further into a corner and force it to stop the oppression and do something to change the situation.
But Allaf said the more the regime was pushed the more violent it became.
With the extensions of the deadlines we have seen they have been doing even more violence. I believe that it will continue to dig in and stick to its story that this is a foreign conspiracy and that the regime and the government must put an end to this to bring Syria back to stability.
More on the news that a moderate Islamist party has claimed victory in Morocco's parliamentary election.
If the victory of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) is confirmed, it would be the second moderate Islamist party to lead a North African government since the start of the region's Arab Spring uprisings, following Tunisia.
But the party, which hopes to push Islamic finance but vows to steer clear of imposing a strict moral code on society, will have to join forces with others to form a government, AP reports.
Lahcen Daodi, deputy leader of the PJD told Reuters:
Based on reports filed by our representatives at polling stations throughout the country, we are the winners. We won Rabat, Casablanca, Tangier, Kenitra, Sale, Beni Mellal and Sidi Ifni to cite just a few. Our party has won the highest number of seats.
Government officials have yet to confirm the party's claim. The official result is expected later On Saturday.
Around 13.6 million Moroccans out of a population of around 33 million were registered to vote. Turnout was around 45%, according to interior minister Taib Cherkaoui.
The election comes after King Mohammed ceded some powers to avoid the violent revolts in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Yemen and Syria spreading to his country.
He has handed over more powers to the government, although he retains the final say on the economy, security and religion.
Here's more on the Egyptian demonstrator killed early this morning outside the cabinet building in Cairo.
The man's death followed clashes between police troops and protesters, who had camped outside the building overnight to try to block the entrance of the newly appointed prime minister, Kamal al-Ganzouri.
An Associated Press cameraman saw three police troop carriers and an armoured vehicle being chased off by rock-throwing protesters. The security forces fired tear gas in return.
A medical official subsequently confirmed that one protester was killed. Witnesses said the man was killed when a police vehicle ran over him.
Egyptian blogger Sarrah Abdelrahman said on Twitter that she was with the man, named only as Ahmed, in a morgue.
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