Troops took control of Manama on Thursday after riot police stormed an anti-government protest camp at dawn, killing three people and wounding 231 in Bahrain's worst violence in decades. Police cleared Pearl Square of mainly Shi'ite protesters demanding more say in the Sunni-ruled island kingdom.
"This is an atrocity," Abdul Jalil Khalil, a senior member of the main Shi'ite party Wefaq told Reuters. "Whoever took the decision to attack the protest was aiming to kill." The crackdown by the Bahraini authorities appeared designed to snuff out the protests before they could gather momentum, unlike the sustained unrest that unseated Egypt's Hosni Mubarak.
Inspired by popular revolts in Tunisia and Egypt, the unrest in Bahrain, home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet, will alarm Saudi Arabia and the United States, which both see the island's al-Khalifa dynasty as a bulwark against Shi'ite Iran. "I'm not saying that Bahrain is on the brink (but) should it become clear that the regime is in danger, the Saudis will step in," said Gala Riani, senior Middle East analyst at IHS Global Insight in London.
Gulf Arab foreign ministers were due to meet later in the day in Manama to discuss the past four days of turbulence in Bahrain, whose Shi'ite majority chafes under Sunni rule. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Bahrain not to use violence against protesters and said those responsible for the crackdown should be brought to justice. "The reports from Bahrain overnight are deeply troubling," he told reporters.
The Shi'ite bloc Wefaq, which holds 17 of parliament's 40 seats, planned to quit the assembly in protest. MP Ibrahim Mattar said his group and six others had demanded the government resign and make way for a new national unity cabinet. Jane Kinninmont, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said Wefaq was a cautious group trying to work within the system. "If they feel they can no longer do that then this is a sign of increasing polarisation," she said.
"I assume there are divisions within the government ... (and that) the reformers are worried the crackdown has gone too far. Clearly these images of Bahrain are not going to be good for foreign investment," Kinninmont said. The protesters want the Sunni ruling family to relinquish control over top government posts and address the grievances of Shi'ites over economic hardship, lack of political freedom and discrimination in jobs in public service and the military.
DILEMMA FOR RULERS "The question is whether they will be able to implement general reform, limiting the power of the king and so on. If they do that, in the long term, they are putting their own dominance and Sunni dominance at risk," Riana said, adding the authorities had long experience of dealing with unrest.
Health Minister Faisal bin Yaqoob al-Hamer said three people had been killed and 231 hurt in the police operation. Most had left hospital, but 36 were still receiving treatment, including one in intensive care. "It is most unfortunate," he told Reuters at the bedside of a doctor badly hurt during the clash. Hamer said medical staff had been mobilised and all health centres placed on alert to receive casualties.
A statement from Bahrain's defence forces, quoted by the Qatar news agency, said about 50 security force members had been wounded by demonstrators using "swords, knives and daggers". "Security forces had to fire teargas and stun grenades to avoid losses," the statement said, adding the military had deployed in Manama "under orders to take all necessary measure to preserve peace and stability for citizens and residents".
King Hamad has offered condolences to relatives of the two men killed earlier this week and promised to investigate. The government says it has detained those thought responsible. The police raid was short and sharp. Within 20 minutes protesters had fled, leaving tents, blankets and rubbish behind them as teargas wafted through the air, a Reuters reporter said.
LOST DAUGHTER A teenager shepherded a sobbing woman into a car, saying she had been separated from her two-year-old daughter in the chaos. At the Salmaniya hospital, about 200 people gathered to mourn and protest, some shouting slogans against the al-Khalifas. Someone had scrawled on a wall "Let this ruling gang fall".
Helicopters clattered over the city and tow-trucks dragged away cars abandoned by protesters, their tyres squealing on the Tarmac because the brakes were still on. Army troops in beige camouflage replaced riot police at Pearl Square and Asian municipal workers cleared away garbage.
On Wednesday, the Wefaq party demanded a new constitution that would move the country toward democracy. "We're not looking for a religious state. We're looking for a civilian democracy ... in which people are the source of power, and to do that we need a new constitution," its secretary-general Sheikh Ali Salman told a news conference.
Elsewhere in Manama, life went on as usual. In one upscale area, foreigners sat in cafes or strolled in jogging clothes. The religious divide between Bahrain's leaders and most of their subjects has led to sporadic unrest since the 1990s, making the country more prone to unrest than other Gulf states where rulers tacitly use oil wealth to buy political submission.
King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa introduced a new constitution giving Bahrainis more political rights a decade ago, but the opposition says he has not gone far enough to introduce democracy. Most of the cabinet are royal family members. The king's uncle, Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, has been prime minister since the modern state was founded in 1971. Wefaq wants him fired and replaced by an elected prime minister. "The people demand the fall of the regime," protesters chanted at the hospital, echoing a slogan of Egyptians who ousted Mubarak last week after an 18-day revolt.