Crackdown on protest in Bahrain
Anon | 17.02.2011 06:43 | Globalisation | Repression | World
About 2000 people stayed overnight in Pearl Square. A member of the secular Waad party says police acted without any warning on Thursday and there is a dense fog of tear gas where hundreds of women and children are camping.
Witnesses say the demonstrators were driven out and ambulances were seen rushing from the square. A journalist with the American Broadcasting Corporation, Miguel Marquez was in Pearl Square when police arrived and was beaten after reporting on events. The protesters in the small island kingdom are calling for democratic reform, the release of political prisoners and an end to what they call civil rights abuses.
Since independence from the United Kingdom in 1971, tensions between the ruling Sunni elite and the Shia majority have frequently caused civil unrest. Shia groups say they are marginalised, subject to unfair laws, and repressed. The protesters are adamant they will achieve the same success as demonstrators in Egypt, where president Hosni Murbarak was forced from power. Protests linked to recent events in Egypt and Tunisia are gaining momentum across the Middle East and North Africa.
Anon
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