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I know the answer.3/26/2005
Filed under: Revolutions Middle East Bahrain
MASS MARCH URGES REFORM IN BAHRAIN
This is incredibly encouraging. From the place that just released detained bloggers, the majority Shiite protested against the government demanding reform!
MANAMA (Reuters) - Tens of thousands have marched in one of Bahrains largest opposition demonstrations
to demand democratic reforms in the pro-Western Gulf Arab state.
Fridays peaceful march, called by the Shiite-led opposition, follows unsuccessful talks with the government on
constitutional reforms to give greater powers to parliaments elected assembly, which is on an equal footing with a
state-appointed chamber.
Bahrain, the Gulfs banking hub and home to the U.S. Navys Fifth Fleet, has introduced some reforms, but the
opposition, led by the countrys majority Shiite Muslims, want more rights in the small Sunni-ruled island state.
Interior Minister Sheikh Rashed bin Abdullah al-Khalifa called for legal action against organisers for holding the
march despite being refused a permit, the state news agency BNA said.
Sheikh Rashed said his ministry did not issue the permit due to regional tension and security threats. He did
not elaborate.
Sheikh Ali Salman, a cleric who heads a main opposition group, earlier told marchers: This gathering is
demanding a constitution that is agreed upon by everybody, to bring the country out of a crisis which cripples its
progress and reforms. Organisers estimated the crowd at about 80,000.
Bahrain is suffering from policies that harm the nation corruption, unemployment and poverty. There is an
urgent need for reforms, he added.
This is incredibly good news. Al Jazeera is actually being helpful in providing information, and is reporting that the government plans to move against the protestors in unspecified measures.
Bahrain has warned it will take unspecified measures against the Gulf states main Shia opposition group after it organised a mass demonstration in defiance of a government ban.
The Islamic National Accord Association (INAA) will face legal measures after it organised an unlawful demonstration yesterday, Information Minister and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Muhammad Abd al-Ghaffar was quoted by the daily Al-Ayyam as saying on Saturday.
Newspapers carried a similar warning issued by the interior minister late on Friday after thousands of people took to the streets of Sitra, the archipelagos third largest island located south of Manama, in response to the INAAs call to press for constitutional reforms.
INAA leader Shaikh Ali Salman led the march, in which representatives of three other political groupings allied with his association - the leftist National Democratic Action Association, the Nationalist Democratic Rally, which is a pan-Arab nationalist group, and the Islamic Action Association, a Shia grouping - also took part.
Bahrain's streets were mostly empty after the bloody clampdown, but thousands defied authorities by marching in cities in Libya and Yemen as the wave of political unrest continued in the wake of uprisings that toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.
The tiny kingdom of Bahrain is a key part of Washington's military counterbalance to Iran by hosting the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. Bahrain's rulers and their Arab allies depict any sign of unrest among their Shiite populations as a move by neighboring Shiite-majority Iran to expand its clout in the region. While part of the recent revolt in the Arab world, the underlying tensions in Bahrain are decades old and pit the majority Shiites against the Sunni elite.
After allowing several days of rallies in the capital of Manama by disaffected Shiites, the island nation's Sunni rulers unleashed riot police who stormed a protest encampment in Pearl Square before dawn, firing tear gas, beating demonstrators or blasting them with shotgun sprays of birdshot. Along with two who died in clashes with police Monday, the new killings brought the death toll this week in Bahrain to seven.
The willingness to resort to violence against largely peaceful demonstrators was a sign of how deeply the monarchy fears the repercussions of a prolonged wave of protests.
MORE
The revolts in Tunisia and Egypt that swept their entrenched dictators from power were remarkably peaceful. Today, hundreds of thousands gathered in Egypt's Tahrir Square mourning their martyrs and insisting their revolution is not complete. But now, other worried Middle Eastern autocrats appear to be taking a lesson from the Tunisian and Egyptian revolts, and are bringing the hammer down fast. That Libyan strongman Muammar Qaddafi would kill his people to save himself is no surprise. Col. Qaddafi is a bit of an outlier among Middle Eastern autocrats, having sought to build a cult of personality and a totalitarian regime far more closed and violent than most of the rest in the region. Human Rights Watch reported at least 24 protesters killed by Qaddafi's security forces yesterday, and activists said live rounds were being fired against protesters gathered for a "day of rage" today to bury the dead. But in tiny Bahrain, where a US-backed Sunni monarchy rules over a populace that's about 70 percent Shiite, massive force has been unleashed on peaceful democracy protesters both today and yesterday as well. The Western-looking kingdom plays host to America's Fifth Fleet, leaving President Barack Obama with even fewer levers of influence in Bahrain than he had in the case of Egypt.
It's one thing to threaten withholding military aid from Egypt, a card the Obama administration probably played during the height of Egypt's uprising. It's quite another to say, "Stop shooting your people, or we'll remove our naval base." Some foreign observers like the influential New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof appear to be shocked that a "moderate" regime (his word) like Bahrain's would kill its own people. They shouldn't be. The ruling Khalifa family, like Qaddafi, is engaged in the sort of existential struggle that Egypt and Tunisia's powerbrokers didn't face; while Egypt's Mubarak and Tunisia's Ben Ali may be out of power, the officers and political architecture that support their rule remain intact, at least for now. But the odds that the Khalifas will preserve a powerful role for themselves in Bahrain in the face of true democracy are small. They appear to be acting accordingly. In the early morning Thursday, riot police stormed a democracy encampment at Pearl Square in Manama, Bahrain's capital an encampment set up in emulation of Cairo's Tahrir Square. The police fired shot guns and rubber bullets, killing five and dispersing protesters.
Today, it was the Bahrain Defense Force's turn to get in on the action. The kingdom's tiny military, largely made up of foreign mercenary recruits, assaulted groups of mourners who were burying the previous day's dead and trying to push protests forward. Reports from Manama said gunfire lashed crowds from helicopters and that dozens, at least, were injured. Al Jazeera quoted a doctor in a Manama hospital as saying the emergency room was "overwhelmed" with casualties. The death toll, if any, is still unclear. Bahrain's population is about 1.2 million. While the five confirmed killed on Thursday seems small relative to the 300 or so who died in Egypt's uprising, it's already a greater percentage of the population than in Egypt, and that number seems likely to have grown today. Will force work? Or will it spur on Bahrain's Shiites to greater cycles of mourning and protest?
Source
The Bahraini Army pulled out its tanks and police withdrew their forces from the main demonstration site Saturday, allowing thousands of jubilant protesters to pour back to what they called "their land" just one day after violent clashes. But whether the sight of cheering, crying, and grateful Bahraini protesters pouring into Pearl Square was the beginning of negotiations between the monarchy and the opposition groups or a pause between clashes remained unclear. Even as they chanted "we are victorious," some protesters wondered whether they were being set up for an ambush by a military that was plotting to return.
Regardless, the sight of forces relinquishing control of the heavily fought-over square gave them a sense of confidence not seen since the protests began nearly a week ago. As they ran toward the square Saturday, protesters vowed to stay and indeed started preparing for a long battle. They waved flags even as they set up tents to spend the night. They blasted chants from their loudspeakers as they collected rubber bullets to prove that the Army fired on them the last time they were here. They cleaned up bags of onions left for protesters to use if they were struck by tear gas and instead set up an on-scene medical hospital.
The opposition had said it would not consider an offer by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa for national dialogue until the military left the streets. The troops began pulling out of the square around 12:30 p.m. and the police moved in. At 3:25 p.m., police officers got into SUVs and drove off in dramatic fashion. A line of more than 60 vehicles drove off together to the loud cheers of protesters who had not been blocked from entering the square.
Libya using deadly force
