I have been watching videos from YouTube posted by democracy protestors in Bahrain and Syria. From each country the videos contain long periods when the footage swings wildly between rooftops, the sky and buildings as the operator of the camera or cameraphone runs hurriedly, and sometimes in panic, away from danger – or sometimes even towards his or her friends who are in danger.
But the Syrian footage seems to show far more wounded people, people crawling injured along the ground and people being carried away by friends. Obviously there is violence in Bahrain and people are being hurt, but it is a sign of the overall level of protest, uprisings and forceful responses to demonstrations that the use of tear gas, truncheons and occasional shots, which normally would be front page news, now rate lower than more violent confrontations elsewhere.