After Deadly Police Violence, Bahrainis Show No Sign of Yieldin

Protesters carrying food and tents poured into Manama’s Pearl Square on Monday, intensifying their calls for an end to the Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty that has ruled the strategic Gulf kingdom for centuries.

The mainly Shiite protesters have called a massive demonstration for today in the hope that tens of thousands of people will converge on Pearl Square and those already there have vowed not to leave until their demands are met.

“We will stay here for as long as it takes and will continue to offer food to all those here in the square,” said Qassem Hassan, a university student who was passing out fruit and water to passers-by. “We are determined to see our demands met.”

The heir to Bahrain’s throne, Crown Prince Salman, has been tasked by his father, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, with launching a wide-reaching dialogue with the opposition. But emboldened by Arab uprisings which have toppled the strongmen of Tunisia and Egypt since last month, the opposition has raised the stakes, demanding a “real constitutional monarchy” and the government’s resignation.

Pearl Square has been the focal point of demonstrations that have since Feb. 14 rocked Bahrain, prompting foreign governments to issue travel warnings and casting doubt on next month’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

Last Thursday, police stormed the square firing tear gas, rubber bullets and hollow-point bullets which killed four people and injured scores. An attempt on Friday to return to the square was met with more gunfire and on Monday a Shiite demonstrator shot in the head during the crackdown died of his wounds, an opposition official said.

His death brings to seven the number of demonstrators killed since anti-regime protests began, according to a tally based on relatives of victims and opposition officials.

Protesters flocked back to the square on Saturday after the army was ordered back to base. After their first night since returning to the square passed peacefully, protesters erected more tents on Sunday afternoon.

Shouts of “Sit-in, sit-in, until the regime falls” broke out among hundreds of student protesters on Monday morning at the square.

Laborers and students have joined the protests to demand a better quality of life in the kingdom, where oil reserves are dwindling.

“We want our living conditions to change once and for all,” said Ahmed, a manual laborer who had brought his three children to camp out in the square.

“I want to live on my own, without having to depend on my parents for housing,” he said.

Seated on the grass in Pearl Square — renamed “Independence square” and “Martyrs’ square” by protesters — one woman said the shock of the killings has not yet subsided.

“What happened on Thursday shocked us and broke our hearts,” said Um Alawi, clad in full niqab and flanked by her daughters. “No mother can keep her children from coming here,” she said. “Sacrifice is today the duty of all Bahrainis.”

“Hamad does not deserve to be our king as he does not defend his people,” added Um Salman, who had just spent her second night in the square with a group of other Bahraini mothers. “We will stay here, in the square, come what may.”

Their feelings were echoed by hundreds of women who have turned out to demand the resignation of the government.

“King Hamad is a war criminal,” said Sharifa, a young woman in black hijab, referring to the military attack on protesters Thursday. “We no longer want the rule of the Khalifa monarchy.”

Hassan Mashaima, exiled leader of Bahrain’s opposition Haq movement, meanwhile said he would return to Manama on Tuesday but said he had “no guarantees” he would not be arrested on arrival. “I have decided to return to my country,” said Mashaima, a Shiite based in London who faces charges of terrorism along with 25 others in his native Bahrain. 

Nini/thejakartaglobe