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Subscribe to RSSBahrain's government came under growing pressure Thursday after international media who descended on the tiny Gulf kingdom to cover the country's Formula One race turned their attention to persistent anti-government protests.
Kevin Eason, motor racing correspondent for Britain's Times newspaper, told msnbc.com that what he had seen throughout Bahrain in the past few days had changed the way he viewed protesters in the country. (The Times operates behind a paywall)
"I was very impressed ... and the people were incredibly polite, generous (and) welcoming. They all had a story to tell of their own experiences and what has been happening recently," he said, recounting a peaceful demonstration numbering around 3,000 people that he had visited on Tuesday in the village of al Dair.
"It was a proper cross-section of the community," Eason said. "It was old men it was fathers, it was young children, toddlers and a lot of women -- difficult to know how many but maybe a thousand, all dressed in black, all calling for peace."
Mazen Mahdi / EPA
Anti-Formula One graffiti is seen on the walls in Barbar village, north of the Bahraini capital Manama on Wednesday.
"I was very impressed and moved by that."
Bahrain Grand Prix: For Formula One racing, politics is always in pole position
Eason added that the protests, which have been degenerating into nightly violent clashes with security forces in villages outside the capital, were only part of the story and that many people elsewhere were simply getting on with their everyday lives.
Earlier on Thursday, Eason tweeted that a fire bomb landed near a vehicle belonging to the Force India team as they came back from from the track on Wednesday evening. Two members of the team asked to return to the UK after the incident, he reported.
Bahrain, the base for the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, has been hit by near daily violence between security forces and protesters from the country's Shiite majority seeking to break the Sunni monarchy's tight grip on power. Washington has only gently prodded its Saudi-allied rulers to improve human rights and push forward political reforms. Thirty-five people were killed during the uprising last year, including five from torture, as well as security personnel
The Bahrain GP is the nation's biggest sports event, drawing a worldwide TV audience of about 100 million in 187 countries. It brought in a half-billion dollars in 2010 and 100,000 visitors, Reuters cited global risk analysis group Maplecroft as saying. Such an infusion is desperately needed in a country whose economy contracted 50 percent last year due to the unrest, Maplecroft said.
PhotoBlog: Bahrain protesters clash with police after funeral
John Yates, Britain's former Metropolitan Police assistant commissioner advising Bahrain on policing strategy, and a NBC counter-terrorist expert, said protests had been expected and planned for.
AFP - Getty Images
Shiite female democracy activists, waving national flags,call for Formula One to be canceled in the town of Isa on Wednesday.
"Everyone is expecting more protests leading up to this event," he told msnbc.com. "That is properly catered for and not unexpected. (The) sense I have and I hope it is not a complacent one is that everyone is here to enjoy the event and they’re excellent plans."
"Nobody anywhere can guarantee 100 percent security," he added.
'Should not be politicized'
Organizers have also repeatedly insisted the race will be safe and that security fears are overblown. They have blamed extremist groups using "scare-mongering tactics" for raising doubts about the race and have employed everyone from Bahrain football coach Peter Taylor to Yates, to assure race teams and fans that the race will be problem-free.
Rather than sewing divisions, organizers say have insisted the race can unite the country. They have spent heavily for the past weeks on events aimed at promoting the race, even rolling out a new slogan Unif1ed-One Nation in Celebration.
Amnesty: Tear gas used on Bahrain protesters kills
"This race is more than a mere global sport event and should not be politicized to serve certain goals, which may be detrimental to this international gathering," said Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa as he toured the Bahrain International Circuit on Tuesday. He owns the rights to the grand prix and serves as commander of the armed forces.
On Wednesday, security forces fired stun grenades at largely Shiite demonstrators at a cultural exhibition for the Formula One races. The clashes sent both demonstrators and people attending the exhibit running for cover in a potential blow to Bahrain's efforts to use this weekend's race as a sign of stability after 14 months of unrest.
The protesters chanted slogans against the race, which was canceled last year. They also called for the release of a jailed activist on a hunger strike lasting more than two months.
Bahrain to citizens living abroad: Spy on countrymen, no protests permitted
"The regime was isolated because of the crimes it committed and the Bahrain Grand Prix is giving a way out for the government, especially the royal family," Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, told Reuters. "We need this regime to be punished for the crimes it has committed in the past year and half."
Yates countered that Bahrain had been targeted by the international media, and accused some human rights groups and journalists with "rank hypocrisy."
He added:"China last weekend held a race. (There was) no comment about a place with the worst human rights record ... Bahrain has admitted they got things wrong last year, I have stated categorically they got things wrong, I have used the words 'tragic' and 'appalling.'... (The government) said they're willing to change, to make some very significant changes in their approach to human rights."
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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rachel what did you write to be deleted? I like your posts. Oh yeah, car racing. That is not the point here is it? Car racing-Oil. Why is there a conflict? Just one more thing I don't get about Muslims.
Iran is causing problems for ALL the Countries in this area. It's getting very close to the point that Iran will need to deal with Iran's interference in the Governing of other Nations.
Of all the posts to be deleted by the oh so sensitive Muslim ruling class, mine was just a joke, about how the bottom photo was of a herd of migrating dufflebags. The censors here are apparently willing to allow racist and antisemitic statements go unmolested (like the nasty ones about the Jews who died in the Holocaust not having had the right to have an old master painting of Christ), but not this. Go figure.
Next they'll kick me off.
Why is there a conflict? WTF?
there will be blood on Bernie's hands if something happens.
Much of the current unrest is being fomented by outside agitators coming in from places like Iran. Bahrain is ruled by a Sunni monarchy and the Iranians would love to see it toppled in favor of a Shiite led government that would be far more friendly and supportive to Iran. Iran wants all nations in the middle east to be ruled by Shiite Islamists as Islamic Republics. Any country that is not heading towards that model is dealing with outside instigators causing trouble. Many of those instigators are either from Iran or are receiving funding for their activities from the Iranian government.
The Bahrain grand prix should be seen as an opportunity for everyone in the country to come together in the enjoyment of the sport. Even something as simple as a common appreciation for this sport can serve as a foundation for finding common ground on other things like political issues. The heavy international presence due to the grand prix can help the protester in having their grievances heard, particularly with the huge amount of foreign media presence that is more willing to air the views of the protesters. However, the opportunity will be lost if the protesters resort to violence since this will turn the media against them and cause them to lose their audience. Outside agitators are stirring up violence because they do not want negotiated reforms with the Sunni monarchy remaining in power. They want the Sunnis gone completely so that they can implement their warped view of Islam in a Shiite controlled Islamic republic government. These agitators do not want peaceful coexistence with the Sunnis, they want total control for themselves. The moderate Shiites in Bahrain must denounce to violence being instigated by these outside agitators in order to maintain their on credibility.
How can people enjoy any sport, as you have suggested, when more than 40 people have died and human right violations are outrageous, to any standard?
I guess we might have forgotten the US boycott of the Russian Olympics because of the violations of human rights of the Afghanis by the Russians during their war in Afghanistan in the seventies? Why not boycott this one?
If there is a truly evil government in the mid east, then Bahrain qualifies. But wait, they are allied to the US and UK. That figures too.
you are right nick, the regime committing a lot of atrocities agains the people, and the media here is controled by arabia , that is why, we did not heard nothing, read the newspapers around the world if want to see the truth
and you wont , Hypocrisy at its best , So JS IN SD , Here there is outside people like Iran and somebody else , But in Syria its all the Syrian gov. no outside money like them jackass's Saudis and Qataris and NATO , Wow how different looks , You know what Iran does not try to mingle and run everybody business like the Saudis , and NATO , the Saudis army units are in Bahrain putting down these peaceful demonstrator with poison gas and live ammo.
The media here is controlled by Arabia? No wonder my post was deleted.
With a jauncided view of the comparitively secular dictatorship of Syria the Western media has completely ignored the gross human rights violations in the Sunni Arab Leahue autocracies like Saudi Arabia and Qatar,which have close financial and other links with the Western capitalist democracies.
Crown Prince doesn't like this thing to be "politicized" ?
"...said Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa as he toured the Bahrain International Circuit on Tuesday. He owns the rights to the grand prix and serves as commander of the armed forces.
I guess with he running the whole show, IT HAS BEEN POLITICIZED!!!!!!!!
Time to move on Saly.
I've been an American citizen for 76 years. The U.S. government does NOT represent me in most issues. No country that violates human rights is a friend or ally of mine. I would prefer pre-Wilson isolationism to doing business with China, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and any number of Middle East and African states. I do not need Gulf States' oil. I do not need a port for the 5th Fleet. I don't care about a stupid car race for rich people. The U.S. Government is selling the country and its future to Muslims. I'm glad I'm old and won't live to see Sharia law as the law of the land.
Don't worry King, if you got to go, go in peace because some of us don't want sharia law for this land either. We, like you, don't need gulf state oil, China's junk and every other country's stuff.
I'm a firm believer that America can flip the bird to the world and live happily ever after trading only with our land neighbors. that would de-escalate the global madness.
Raised w sisters work w 75% women,have daughters and wife.What part of the culture am I supposed to be respecting?
At Bahrain FREE is a image picture ? but foreign people can get free action ?
oil and money,rock music with Muslin compeition anytime?