Three dead after police storm Bahrain protest camp‎

[News_Editor]

Three dead after police storm Bahrain protest camp‎

2011-02-17 22:54:08 GMT+7 (ICT)

MANAMA, BAHRAIN (BNO NEWS) -- At least three people were killed and 200 others injured after security forces in Bahrain's capital stormed an encampment of protesters on Thursday, the kingdom's health minister said.

According to eyewitnesses, police fired pellets, rubber bullets and tear gas to force protesters out of the Pearl Roundabout, a landmark city circle located in the center of Manama, and attacked demonstrators indiscriminately, CNN reported.

Dr. Faisal Ben Yacoub Al Hamar, the health minister, said on state television Thursday that three people died and at least 225 were injured amid the crackdown. Other major media organizations, however, have reported a death toll of at least four people.

About 195 of the injured were treated and released while 30 to 40 others remained hospitalized.

Authorities defended their handling of protesters early Thursday. They said they used a minimum of force and that their forces found firearms, knives and Hezbollah flags.

"Public security forces carried out this morning the evacuation of the crowd and the protesters from Pearl Square after exhausting all opportunities for dialogue with them, some of them have responded and left quietly, while others refused to comply with the law, which called to intervene in order to disperse them," an Interior Ministry official said, according to Bahrain News Agency.

An ABC reporter was attacked while he was on the phone, describing the scene of the network. He then returned to the audio line, and said, "These people are not screwing around."

Al Wefaq, the largest single party in the lower chamber of parliament with 18 out of 40 seats, announced after the crackdown that it had decided to withdraw from parliament

Party official Abdul Jalil Khalil, who has been head of the Al Wefaq parliamentary bloc, told CNN that the unrest is "a turning point" for the small nation of about 1 million people and noted that the casualty figures are "large scale" given the size of the population.

Al Wefaq is a Shiite party in a country with a sectarian divide. Bahrain is ruled by the Sunni Muslim al-Khalifa family, but two-thirds of the population are Shiite.

The protests in Bahrain started Sunday and intensified earlier this week after two demonstrators were killed by security forces. The United Nations human rights chief on Wednesday condemned the two deaths and urged authorities in Bahrain to stop using excessive force against protesters.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-02-17

[LaoPo]

February 17, 2011

Bahrain Turmoil Poses Fresh Test for White House

By MICHAEL SLACKMAN and MARK LANDLER

MANAMA, Bahrain — A brutal government crackdown on pro-democracy protesters here on Thursday not only killed at least five people but, once again, placed the Obama administration in the uncomfortable position of dealing with a strategic Arab ally locked in a showdown with its people.

As the army patrolled with tanks and heavily armed soldiers, the once-peaceful protesters were transformed into a mob of angry mourners chanting slogans like “death to Khalifa,” the king, while the opposition withdrew from the Parliament and demanded that the government step down. At the main hospital following the violence, thousands gathered screaming, crying and collapsing in grief.

For the Obama administration, it was the Egypt scenario in miniature in this tiny Persian Gulf state, a struggle to avert broader instability and protect its interests — Bahrain is the base of the Navy’s Fifth Fleet — while voicing support for the democratic aspiration of the protesters.

The United States said it strongly opposed the use of violence. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called Bahrain’s foreign minister on Thursday morning to convey “our deep concern about the actions of the security forces,” she said. President Obama did not publicly address the crackdown, but his press secretary, Jay Carney, said that the White House was urging Bahrain to use restraint in responding to “peaceful protests.”

continues here:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/18/world/middleeast/18bahrain.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha2

LaoPo