Bahrain on the brink

[Al-khiyal]

[Al-khiyal]

[Al-khiyal]

Bahrain security forces launch assault on protesters in Manama

MANAMA, Bahrain, March 16, 2011 (AFP) -- Hundreds of Bahrain riot police launched an assault Wednesday morning on pro-democracy demonstrators camped out in a square in the capital Manama. Officers fired tear gas grenades at the mainly Shi'ite Muslim demonstrators gathered in the city's Pearl Square, which has become one of the focal points for the movement pressing for political reform from the country's Sunni rulers.

[Al-khiyal]

Forces begin to clear Bahrain protesters from square

March 16, 2011 (Reuters) -- Forces clearing Bahrain's Pearl roundabout early on Wednesday to clear protesters who have camped out there for weeks, witnesses said. Forces began moving towards the roundabout from Bahrain Financial Harbour, the country's main financial district. It was not clear if Gulf Arab forces invited in by the government for support were involved in the assault.

[Al-khiyal]

Bahrain cracks down on protestors, Shura Council members resign

MANAMA, March 16, 2011 (Xinhua) -- Bahrain's security force launched a crackdown on anti-government protestors on Wednesday morning by taking control of the Pearl Roundabout which has been the focal point of gathering of protestors since last month. Several people were injured in the clashes, who were transferred to the health centers. Live gun shots were heard near the state-run Salmaniya Medical Complex, as security forces and GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) troops clashed with protestors who gathered at the hospital. Communications, mainly phone and mobiles, were jammed, while internet speed was also reduced ahead of the crackdown. In the meanwhile, four members of the Bahraini Shura Council resigned from their position in protest against the government's crackdown on protestors. Former Health Minister Nada Haffadh was the first to announce her resignation on Tuesday night, followed by Mohammed Radhi, Mohammed Al Halwachi and Nasser Mubarak. According to reports in the Gulf Daily News, the members faxed and sent text messages of their resignation to concerned authorities in parliament. Earlier this month, former head of the General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions Abdulghaffar Abdulhussain stepped down as a Shura Council member, following the death of seven anti-government protestors last month during clashes with police. On Tuesday, one protestor and a policeman were reported dead after the second crackdown was launched by the government following declaring an emergency for three months. Bahrain has a bicameral legislature - the Chamber of Deputies, elected by the citizens, and the Shura Council, whose members are appointed by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. Both the Houses have 40 members each who serve a four-year term.

[Al-khiyal]

Bahrain unleashes forces on protesters' camp

March 16, 2011 -- Military troops have opened a large-scale assault against hundreds of anti-government protesters occupying a landmark site in Bahrain's capital. The focal point for Bahrain's demonstrators was again overrun by riot police in a nationwide crackdown aimed at crushing the two-month anti-government uprising. Smoke was billowing from the site, known as Pearl roundabout, and the scent of teargas wafted through many locations in Manama. Gunfire was heard throughout the capital and at least five helicopters were circling scenes of clashes, amid widespread panic on the streets below. Riot police entered Manama's Salmaniya medical centre for the first time since the demonstrations began and doctors reported they were being prevented from reaching the hospital and treating patients inside. The police were also preventing casualties from reaching the facility. By 8am, they had closed its main gate and stationed forces outside. This morning's events are a significant escalation in more than eight weeks of clashes that have threatened the legitimacy of Bahrain's monarchy and stoked sectarian tensions throughout the Gulf and Saudi Arabia. They follow the arrival of more than 1,000 troops from the Gulf Co-operation Council, invited to the kingdom by its besieged rulers. One armoured personnel carrier flying the flag of the United Arab Emirates was seen by bystanders this morning amid a column of troop carriers. Two people were killed during clashes with troops on Tuesday afternoon. Demonstrators are braced for more pitched battles after the regime declared a state of emergency for the next three months.

Pearl roundabout was first attacked by riot police in mid-February, forcing demonstrators to abandon the site for three days until troops surrendered it under the orders of Bahrain's crown prince. That gesture was supposed to mark a watershed in the protests and the start of a national dialogue between the Shia majority, which accounts for 70% of Bahrain's population, and the Sunni minority which rules them. But the dialogue faltered almost before it began, with protesters claiming they could not trust the government and unable to agree on their demands. For the last four weeks the roundabout in the central city had been transformed into a hub of activism with hundreds of tents, supplied food and a media centre. It had taken on almost a folk festival feel. However, the status quo had seemed untenable amid increasing nervousness within the regime about the momentum of the demonstration. Bahrain's fresh crackdown has the support of the Gulf states, who are anxious to avoid the risk that demonstrations will spread their way. They had angered nearby Iran, which has supported Bahrain's Shias in the past and also drawn a rebuke from Hezbollah in Lebanon.

[Al-khiyal]

Iraq Shi'ite authority condemns Bahrain crackdown

BAGHDAD, March 16, 2011 (AFP) -- A leading Iraq-based Shi'ite Muslim authority on Wednesday condemned a deadly government crackdown on mainly Shi'ite protesters in Bahrain, saying the violence must stop immediately. "We condemn this irresponsible act," Basheer al-Najafi, one of the world's four top Shi'ite authorities, said in a statement. "We call on those responsible to immediately halt this injustice to citizens," Najafi said from his base in the Shrine city of Najaf in central Iraq.

Hundreds of Bahraini riot police early Wednesday launched an assault in Manama's Pearl Square, where protesters inspired by uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt have been camping for weeks demanding political reforms. Bahrain's mainly Shi'ite opposition said at least two protesters were killed and dozens wounded in the violent assault. The raid followed clashes in the kingdom between demonstrators and security forces in various Bahraini villages on Tuesday in which two people died and hundreds were hurt. Najafi urged Bahrain's leadership to "avoid violence and sectarian strife, save lives, and take the wise path of negotiation as the best way to save the country."

Wednesday's clashes in Manama came a day after the Sunni King Hamad, boosted by the arrival in the Shi'ite-majority state of armed forces from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, declared a three-month state of emergency in a bid to quell the protests.
"We were surprised that the Bahraini government asked for forces from neighbouring countries, who targeted villages and people who had raised slogans of peace, and were targetted by gunfire and mortars," Najafi's statement said. In Bahrain, five of the kingdom's top Shi'ite clerics had warned on Tuesday that a "horrible massacre is expected at Pearl Square against the people of this (Shi'ite) sect, only for peacefully demanding their rights."