The Arab Agenda

Chapter 11

Bahrain, the Time Line of Events

On the 14th of February 2011, the citizens of the Kingdom of Bahrain were celebrating 10 years of political, economic, and social reforms, ending an important stage toward their year 2030 vision. Some Bahraini's decided to mark the tenth anniversary of the National Charter, on February 14, with a "Day of Rage" protest. The title itself ("Day of Rage") caused some sensitivity for some parties, since it is well-known that February the 14th is celebrated as Valentine's Day.

Some unrests had taken place the night before in certain areas and over the years it was a norm to have tires burnt on the road from time to time and for skirmishes to take place by some adolescents, however occasionally deadly, which lead to the several fatal incidents including the death of Shaikh Mohammed Riaz, in March 2009, a 58-year-old victim who was killed in a Molotov cocktail attack in Ma'ameer and earlier in April 2008, a Bahraini policeman Majid Asghar Ali, aged 27, was killed when his patrol car came under attack at night near Karzakan, a village to the south west of Manama.

The protests at the GCC Roundabout started with general social and economic demands, such as better pay and housing. The citizens of Bahrain that were not present at the Roundabout had no objection to those demands but disagreed on the demanding methods, they believed that these demands could be achieved by hard work and reforms.

The demands were respected; however, it suddenly escalated to political demands seeking the resignation of the government and later its replacement by a government directly elected from the GCC Roundabout protestors which provoked the entire country.

First: general social and economic demands. Second: Political demands, demanding the removal of the Government by the protesters (excluding the silent citizens' decision as if they did not exist)

Most Bahraini's thought those demands were outrageous and very insulting to them; especially as a small group of initially approximately 3,000 people gathered in a roundabout and demanded to rule the country as they pleased.

The majority of Bahraini's (including some who camped at the roundabout) were very upset with these demands, since they considered them mocking decades of achievement and demolishing everything they had worked hard for.

February 15th. The protesters in the GCC Roundabout start intimidating and forcing shops around the roundabout to close and shut down business. Some bystanders were attacked. This went unreported in the international media, whose main concern was not human lives, but a story of an uprising that they wanted to succeed.

The protesters started to gather in the streets, establishing checkpoints. They gave themselves the authority to stop traffic in the most important intersection in the capital Manama, questioning passing vehicles' drivers about their destination, asking to see their IDs, and searching their cars under the guise of security. The security of what has yet to be determined.

They gave themselves the authority to ban people from passing by and making them return from where they had come. On that day the emergency phone lines were jammed with people calling for help because they had been intimidated and threatened by the protesters in and around the GCC roundabout.

Local residents in the vicinity were unable to reach their homes. People became very annoyed with this assembly that was restraining their movement around the capital and started to question if the behavior was legal while making demands in such a manner they did not agree with.

Shortly thereafter the protesters started gathering on the flyover bridge next to the GCC roundabout. This bridge is the only link between Bahrain's main highway and the capital, Manama. It directly leads to the financial area in Bahrain with more than 200,000 cars per day using this fly over.

The protesters started walking in the middle of the flyover causing traffic jams; they then blocked the bridge adjacent to their gathering in the roundabout, resulting in the complete halt of all traffic.

The Ministry of Interior at this point and taking into account the citizens safety had to interfere and clear out this illegal gathering, since it started to threaten the security, was interfering with businesses, and causing complete chaos in Manama.

That night police and riot forces approached the area and start clearing the gathering on the bridge with sirens. When they had cleared the flyover they used loud speakers and repeatedly asked the 3,000 protesters in the GCC roundabout to disperse.

The majority of the 3,000 gathered dispersed voluntarily, however, another group started to reply back to the security forces through their own loud speakers, asking protesters not to disperse and instead to stay in place. The riot police started deploying teargas and sound bombs to disperse the remaining group, which were adamant to remain and clash.

Approximately 150 riot police armed with batons started moving down off the bridge and closing one access point to the area, while leaving three access points open for the remaining protesters to disperse. The remaining group clashed with security forces, using weapons such as swords, daggers, knives and steel bars.

Two from the remaining group fell in the riot, along with several injured (mostly from teargas inhalation). Two policemen died and many policemen were injured, some with critical open wounds.

The degree of violence from the clash between protestors and police raised questions on the part of the Ministry of Interior. When questioned, many of the riot police described a kind of paramilitary combat training that this group had used against them.

On the following morning (February 17th) police forces were cleaning the roundabout and found several firearms with live bullets, a number of white weapons (daggers, swords, sharp metal objects) and Hezbollah flags.

With this discovery the Ministry of Interior feared that Hezbollah's cells in Bahrain had penetrated the peaceful protest and used them as cover. The presence of a known terror organization infiltrating even peaceful demonstrations in vital areas of the country presents a grave threat to the country. Thus the decision was taken to secure the whole area by the Army.

At that point, the government of Bahrain was questioned and falsely accused, one of the most notable being that it attacked peaceful protesters with live ammunition while they slept. This ignited a firestorm from the international media against Bahrain; with a number of local and international organizations issuing statements objecting to the government's purported actions.