BBC News with Marion Marshall
Reports are emerging of large protests in Libya's second city Benghazi following calls for "day of rage" demonstrations. According to eyewitnesses, thousands of people are on the streets, chanting "the people want to
topple
the colonel", a
reference
to Colonel Gaddafi, who's ruled Libya for more than four decades. There are also reports of protests in Zenten and in al-Bayda, where protests broke out on Wednesday. Jon Leyne reports.
The so-called "day of rage" appears to have spread to four Libyan cities. The most violent clashes were in the eastern city of Benghazi. Opposition websites said as many as six people were killed there with more deaths in the city of al-Bayda, but none of the figures could be confirmed. Other reports suggested a police station was set on fire in the city of Zenten. State television ignored the protests, instead airing patriotic songs and showing pictures of pro-government rallies, the largest of which appears to be in Tripoli.
The security forces in Bahrain have
sealed off
a square in the capital Manama after breaking up an anti-government protest. The Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said action against the demonstrators had been necessary to pull Bahrain back from the brink of a sectarian
abyss
, an apparent reference to divisions between the ruling Sunni minority and Bahrain's majority Shia population. At least three people were killed overnight when police opened fire on the protesters. Ian Pannell is in Manama.