Libya and Bahrain protests – Saturday 19 February

Protesters run from a cloud of teargas during a clash with Bahraini security forces near the Pearl roundabout in Manama. Photograph: John Moore/Getty Images

9:52am Libya: Good morning, this is David Batty with today's liveblog on the continuing unrest in the Arab world and Middle East. The death toll is spiralling as security forces in Libya and Bahrain crack down on popular protests.

Here are the main developments overnight and this morning:

• Libyan security forces killed 35 people in the eastern city of Benghazi last night, according to Human Rights Watch. This brings the death toll from three days of protests in the east of Libya to 84, according to the New York-based group. Eyewitness accounts given to news agencies suggest the total could be significantly higher.

• Libya's main internet service provider, General Post and Telecommunications Company, has largely cut off access to the internet. Al-Jazeera says its Arabic news channel is being jammed on several frequencies.

• Bahrain's main Shia opposition group has rejected King Hamad's offer of national dialogue to end the violent unrest in the Sunni-ruled Gulf state. At least 50 people were wounded on Friday in the capital, Manama, following the funerals for four protesters killed on Thursday.

10.05am, Libya:

Libyan special forces have stormed a protest camp in the eastern city of Benghazi, the Associated Press reports. At 5am special forces are said to have attacked hundreds of protesters, including lawyers and judges, who have been camped out for the past two days in front of the courthouse in city, which has been a focus for the anti-government unrest.

One protester who spoke to the news agency said he feared the security forces were stepping up their brutal crackdown:

They fired teargas on protesters in tents and cleared the areas after many fled carrying the dead and the injured. This is a ghost city; we are all afraid that something big is going to happen in Benghazi today.

10.17am, Libya: More on Human Rights Watch's estimate of the rising death toll in Libya. The group says at least 84 people were killed in several cities in the east of the country between 16-18 February. It bases the estimate on telephone interviews with hospital staff and witnesses.

Hospital sources have said security forces killed 35 people in Benghazi on Friday, almost all with live ammunition:

By 11pm on 18 February, al-Jalaa hospital in Benghazi had received the bodies of 35 people killed that day, a senior hospital official told Human Rights Watch. He said the deaths had been caused by gunshot wounds to the chest, neck, and head.

On Thursday 20 people were killed in Benghazi, 23 in Baida, three in Ajdabiya and three in Derna, according to reports.

10.21am, Libya:

Al-Jazeera English has posted a video on YouTube of a protest outside what appears to be a court building or a police station.

According to the news channel, the protesters are yelling "Oh, Benghazi, where are you! Come see the oppressed people" and "Shame on you, you lied to us."

10.39am, Libya: Moftah, a Libyan protester, has given an interview to CNN's Anderson Cooper describing how soldiers fired on thousands of demonstrators in Benghazi.

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