US-backed regime crushes protest in Bahrain

US-backed regime crushes protest in Bahrain
By Bill Van Auken – 15 February 2012 – WSWS

The US-backed monarchy in the island Gulf state of Bahrain unleashed intense repression on Monday and Tuesday to break up demonstrations by thousands of workers and youth marking the first anniversary of the brutally crushed pro-democracy protests that began on February 14, 2011.

The Bahraini protesters have demanded an end to the dictatorial rule of the al-Khalifa a regime, a Sunni monarchy, as well as jobs and equal rights for the country’s Shia majority, 70 percent of the population, which is subject to systematic discrimination.

Bahrain’s capital of Manama and its surrounding suburbs were placed under a tightened de facto state of siege with armored anti-riot cars lining the streets, thousands of police and troops deployed and barbed wire strung around the iconic Pearl Roundabout, the equivalent of Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

Demonstrators had camped out in the roundabout for a month until the monarchy of King Hamad al-Khalifa used armed force to disperse them. Troops and tanks from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait were brought in over the causeway linking Bahrain to the mainland and initiated a military crackdown that included the demolition of the monument in the Pearl Roundabout, for 30 years a landmark in Bahrain.

Monday’s clashes began when thousands of demonstrators broke off from a regime-sanctioned protest of over 10,000 on the outskirts of Manama organized by Al Wefaq, the Shia opposition party, whose 18 parliamentary delegates resigned last year to protest the repression.

Police attacked the demonstrators with tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades. Some of the demonstrators reportedly responded by hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails at the security forces.

The police also laid siege to predominantly Shia villages around the country, including Bilad al-Qadim.

On Tuesday, intense repression continued, with police making pre-emptive arrests aimed at stopping a planned march on the Pearl Roundabout and staging raids on homes suspected of harboring anti-regime demonstrators.

Among those arrested in the crackdown were two human rights lawyers from the United States, who were promptly deported. …more