5
MANAMA: Bahrain's opposition lost a strong card when police used deadly force to crush a month-old sit-in at Pearl Square but the pro-democracy movement insists it is very much alive.
Shia demonstrators who dominated the anti-regime protests retreated to their neighbourhoods and villages around Manama after security forces on Wednesday stormed the square that became the symbol of their protest.
But a string of sporadic demonstrations have kept the opposition's standoff with authorities alive and the police busy.
“Violent policies aimed at silencing people who demand their rights will lead nowhere,” Bahrain's most revered Shia cleric, Sheikh Issa Qassem, told worshippers at a mosque in Diraz outside the capital.
Following the prayers on Friday, the Muslim day of rest, thousands staged a protest outside the mosque.
Many then braved a heavy security deployment and drove 25 kilometres (15 miles) to Sitra where thousands turned the funeral of a protester into an anti-regime protest.
“Here were come, dressed in mourning clothes,” they chanted, voicing their willingness to die as martyrs.
“The government cannot end the protest. It could end a large demonstration, but it cannot end the uprising,” said leading activist Ibrahim Sharif, after security forces backed by tanks stormed Pearl Square.
“This protest had focused its activities in the square, giving it symbolic value, but a revolution does not need a square to continue,” the Sunni leftist told AFP, hours before he was arrested early Thursday along with five others.
“There is the possibility this could turn into a long uprising,” he said.
Pro-democracy protests which broke out in mid-February after calls by youth groups on Facebook, shut down the financial district of Manama when demonstrations escalated to clashes with police earlier this week.
Emboldened by the arrival of a joint Gulf contingent, the government sent security forces to remove Pearl Square protesters and clear their tent city which had sprouted in the area over the past month.
On Friday, authorities demolished the pearl monument as part of a “facelift” for the junction.
“We will not run out of methods,” said Matar Matar, a member of the parliamentary bloc of Al-Wefaq, the largest Shia formation which held almost half the seats in parliament before it resigned in protest at violence used against protesters last month.
“I want to stress that reform forces will not give up due to this attack,”he said.
Hardliners have been calling for an end to the regime of the Sunni Al-Khalifa family, a dynasty which has ruled the archipelago for more than two centuries.
But mainstream opposition groups like Wefaq, and Sharif's liberal Waed association, have demanded major reforms leading to a real constitutional monarchy like in Britain with an elected prime minister.
They demand, however, the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman, an uncle of King Hamad who has held the post ever since 1970, before accepting calls for national dialogue from Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad.
The government appears now to have the upper hand after squashing the Pearl protest, clearing roadblocks to allow a return to normal life. But Sharif sees things differently.
“A long-term uprising would be costly for the country ... and the army cannot solve the problem,” he said, pointing out to losses from the shutdown of businesses and the tarnished reputation of Bahrain as a safe place to invest.
“The government cannot keep roads blocked,” he said, pointing out that demonstrators could keep the security forces busy chasing them from one protest to another, delaying a return to normality.
The Shia community of Bahrain, which represents at least 60 per cent of the population, is experienced at holding anti-government protests and has a long history of opposing the regime.
Dialogue appears the only way out of the political impasse but the opposition is sticking to its guns despite having lost the square, demanding better conditions for negotiations.
“In the situation that we have now, we cannot speak about dialogue ... You cannot have a solution with a gun to your head,” Sharif said.
“We always knew the square would fall quickly,” he said, downplaying the impact of losing Pearl Square on the uprising, inspired by revolts in Tunisia and Egypt which ousted their autocratic presidents.
On Thursday, the Bahraini army said it arrested “several leaders of sedition” accusing them of contact with foreign states, a charge which in Bahrain usually means espionage or treason.
Bahrain Foreign Minister Khaled bin Ahmad al-Khalifa said there was “evidence available” that Sharif himself had “contact with foreign forces.” – AFP
