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Hamad I Mohammed / REUTERS
An anti-government protester pulls Zaynab al-Khawaja, daughter of Bahrain human rights activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, as riot-police arrive in the main market in the capital Manama during an anti-government protest. Crowds of masked protesters hurled petrol bombs at police who fired tear gas back in Bahrain on Saturday.
Attendance may have been low at the prestigious Formula One Grand Prix Race in Bahrain, but once Sebastian Vettel clinched the title, Bahraini officials took to Twitter to express their satisfaction with the race. They did not mention the violent, ongoing protests taking place around the island state.
"F1 cars will never Stop .. Neither will Bahrain inshAlla :)" Khaled H. Alkhalifa, Bahrain's foreign minister, tweeted. He has more than 78,000 followers and describes himself as a "reader" and "bon vivant." The general secretary of the Bahrain Olympic Committee posted a picture of the revelry.
Outside the arena, however, protesters painted a less chipper portrait of a country in turmoil, where mostly Shiite protesters have been demanding more rights in this Gulf monarchy since last year. Their tweets, organized under the same #Bahrain hashtag that government officials were using, included pictures of protesters walking peacefully and a woman kneeling in traffic.
Their images were also gruesome -- of tear gas flooding streets and of men whose backs were ravaged with bruises, welts and wounds from being shot with shotgun pellets.
Non-protesters described a scene fraught with tension. A woman who identified herself as Fatima Haji wrote: "My 3yrs old son, my husband and I are suffocating in our flat in Bani Jamra as security forces are shooting tear gas in Duraz!!"
Dr. Ala’a Shelabi, a leader among the protesters, tweeted, ominously: "Under arrest. Surrounded by" without finishing her tweet.
The foreign editor for Channel 4 News in England tweeted that he and his crew had been arrested, and that his driver had been dragged out by security forces, bleeding from slashes to his arms.
Alkhalifa, the foreign minister, took to Twitter to express his disdain: "Channel 4 news crew admit to working without accreditation .. Not acceptable. Laws of the land should be respected."
Non-sports reporters had been denied visas into the country.
A man identifying himself as RedBelt boldly replied to the foreign minister: "Your excellency, that link says local driver was beaten and taken away. He had nothing to do with their accreditation."
To which Alkhalifa replied, "Well that’s what they say! Do you and I know the full story?"
The tension did reach at least one Formula One team. A bomb exploded next to a car carrying four team members of Force India on Wednesday. Two team members returned to the UK the next day.
Force India members became increasingly anxious when protester Salah Abbas, 37, was killed by shotgun pellets fired by riot police on Saturday.
The team felt the wrath of race organizer Bernie Ecclestone when they didn’t show up to a practice out of concern for their safety. Their car got little coverage on the main television feed, prompting angry calls to networks from around England, the Guardian of London reported.
Ecclestone, irritated by the team’s decision, told the Guardian: "None of the other teams seem to have a problem."
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The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don't do anything about it!
Ah yes, who cares about the people. The people do not mater. As long as they pay their taxes and stay inside their herds. We, 'the ruling class', will use the police and military, you pay for with your taxes, to hold you down with tear gas bought and paid for by you. F1 will go on because it is way more important than what the people want.
The emerging pattern here is that in these Muslim countries we have the majority Shia in Iran and Pakistan and the upheaval seems to be sparked by this branch more than others. In Iraq Saddam was a Sunni and in the minatory yet were in charge of the country. In Bahrain the Sunni are in charge and the Shia are the protestors, in Syria the Alawites are in charge and the Shia are the protestors. The Shia have go to be the hispanic or african or the Islamic world. Constantly put down and abused by their masters that they hate then of course they are ruled by an iron hand so then they can hate us.
"in Syria the Alawites are in charge and the Shia are the protestors"
Dear William
Please get your facts correct, in Syria 90% are Sunnis and 10% are alawites and Christians.
FYI alawits are a faction of shia.
The women protested for their rights and hope that the government has started to change. The democracy will come in a force that the government cannot resist for the technology and the global economy have brought the democracy as a by-product of moving forward of the twenty-first century.
The Shiites don't care about democracy any more than Stalin did. All they want is to wreck any government or country that is not run by Iranian sharia law. Let them all go back to Iran and practice Iranian democracy. Deport all of them.
By the way the F1 race was the best this season!!
Unfortunately only one side of the story is being told! The media are being beiuest and not hearing from the rest of the people in Bahrain!
Tweeting and facbooking does not send the true picture nor it reflects the full view of bahrainees?!! Having a correspondents and media guides from the opposition to email tweet and send you a picture is not journalistic neutrality! Bahrain population is 700,000+ are 50 to 70 thousand people represent all of Bahrain population or specifically Shia?
Portraying the situation as Shia against Sunni monarchy is wrong! There are 300,000+ Sunnis in Bahrain were there voices????
Sounds like a place that after the race, wave and get out of that place. Kind of like going to a Chicago Bears game in Chicago. Certain areas you don't want to be in. If your a tourist and not know them areas, it's best to just leave after the game.
we do not heard Obama condening this gov. maybe we need this island for our 6th fleet
no one cares.
Any group that can irritate Bernie Ecclestone is okay in my book.