Report by Team Observers

President Pervez Musharraf announced on Thursday that the legislative elections will take place before 15 February. But the state of emergency stays in place and access to non-state television channels is still blocked. However, an online protest movement is gaining speed as increasing numbers of local internet users get involved. The Observers Team has compiled some of the material produced by these citizen journalists.

Tensions in Georgia reached boiling point on Wednesday 7 when President Mikhail Saakashvili declared a state of emergency following riot police clashes with demonstrators. The same day, the television station Imedi was shut down by the police for airing opposition speeches. Photos of the ransacked office are circulating online and bloggers are expressing their concerns about the presidents dictatorial moves.

By Team Observers

Since the declaration of a state of emergency on 03 November, all the privately-owned news channels – Geo, Dawn and Ary – have been blocked by the Pakistani cable operators. But internet users have got together to circulate these prohibited programmes online.