Bahrain Opposition Kicks off Rebellion Movement with Protests
Bahrain opposition groups rallied in villages across the Gulf kingdom, kicking off a rebellion seeking to bring down the ruling Al Khalifa family.
Supporters said they were inspired by the rebellion that led to the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi last month. While the organizers of the Bahrani uprising movement have not disclosed their identities, majority Shiite Muslims have led more than two years of protests demanding equal rights and representation from the kingdom’s Sunni Muslim monarchs.
Tensions have been simmering in the kingdom that hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet since the government crushed a monthlong revolt against the ruling family that began on Feb. 14, 2011. Last week, King Hamad banned public gatherings in Manama and stiffened penalties for guardians of minors who protest.
“Assemble your ranks and aim your arrow of rebellion toward the Al Khalifa enemy,” the Coalition of 14 February, a youth group taking part in the rallies, said in a statement posted on the website set up by the movement’s organizers.
The coalition said demonstrators will hold a day of civil disobedience and mass protests under the banner of “Bahrain Tamarod,” or Rebellion. The action was inspired by Egypt’s Tamarod, the youth group that helped to mobilize the protests that led to Morsi’s ouster, according to the website.
The coalition urged supporters to start their descent on Manama and other cities at 10:30 a.m. from squares near their villages.
Mohammed Al-Maskati, who runs the opposition Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights, said hundreds of protesters took to the streets in villages outside Manama, starting at 6 a.m. He said authorities put barbed wire and checkpoints outside major entrances to villages to prevent residents from reaching main streets.
Authorities tightened security, deploying police across the kingdom, according to the state-run Bahrain News Agency.
A “gang of terrorists” threw firebombs at an Asian worker who was removing barricades set up by the “outlaws,” injuring him seriously, BNA said today. It said the barricades were erected “to terrify citizens and prevent them from going to work.”
“The government won’t allow any act that may jeopardize development and economic activity in the kingdom,” Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa said, according to BNA.
Traffic flow to Manama from surrounding areas was normal in the morning while the fish market near the Pearl Roundabout, the focal point of the 2011 revolt, was bustling with buyers. The roundabout has been demolished and the area around it has been turned into a military zone.
Source: Bloomberg
