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Today's Top News
Bahrain Royal Family Orders Army to Turn on the People
Bahrain's ruling family has defied mounting international criticism by ordering the army to turn on its people for the first time since pro-reform demonstrations erupted five days ago.
As protesters attempted to converge on Pearl Roundabout, a landmark in the capital Manama that has become the principal rallying point of the uprising, soldiers stationed in a nearby skyscraper opened fire.
Protesters run from a cloud of teargas during a clash with Bahraini security forces near the Pearl roundabout. (Photo: GETTY) Since they took to the streets, Bahrain's protesters have come to expect violence and even death at the hands of the kingdom's security forces. At least five people were killed before yesterday's protests.
But this was on a different scale of magnitude.
As they drew near, they were met first with tear gas and then with bursts of live ammunition.
Many fled the first salvoes, scrambling down empty streets as the shots rang out behind them.
As they ran, terror and disbelief flashed across their faces. One man shouted: "They are killing our people! They are killing our people."
Cowering behind a wall, a woman wept, her body shaking in fear.
But many refused to run, initially at least, determined to defy the violence being visited upon them. Some held their hands in the air and shouted "Peaceful! Peaceful!".
The shooting resumed. One man crumpled to the ground, blood pouring from his leg; nearby a second was also felled. A scream went up: "live ammunition!"
As security forces then began to fire anti-air craft guns over their heads and the air filled with tear gas, the protesters' will finally broke.
But even as they fled in headlong panic, a helicopter sprayed gunfire at them and more fell. Paramedics from ambulances that had rushed to the scene darted forward to help the wounded, but they too were shot at. Several were detained and at least one ambulance was impounded.
Doctors at the nearby Salmaniyah hospital said they had received 32 wounded people, nine of whom were in a critical condition. There were unconfirmed reports of two deaths at Pearl Roundabout, but witnesses said the bodies had been seized by the army.
Those caught up in the violence were mourners, returning from funerals of three people killed before dawn the previous day when police opened fire on protesters, many of whom were asleep, in a successful bid to regain control of Pearl Roundabout.
Thousands thronged the body of Ali Ahmad al-Moumen as it was born aloft down the streets of Sitra, a poor Shia village near Manama.
Despite the violence, many said the death of Moumen and other protesters had only increased their determination to press ahead with the protests.
"The regime has failed to stop us," Abdulwahab Hussein, a senior Shia Muslim leader, told the crowd. "Their action shows that they are strong and we are weak."
Most of the protesters are members of Bahrain's long-marginalised Shia majority.
They say they are not demanding the abdication of Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, Bahrain's Sunni king, but they are calling for a constitutional monarchy that would treat the Shia fairly and make them equal subjects in his kingdom.
But they are demanding the resignation of his uncle Khalifa bin Sulman Al Khalifa, who has served as prime minister for 39 years.
During his rule, the protesters say, the Shia have been turned into second class citizens, deprived of jobs in the army, police force and government while Sunnis from abroad have been given Bahraini citizenship to alter the kingdom's demographic balance.
Government officials in Bahrain have warned that the Shia opposition is controlled by Iran, which seeks to use the kingdom to establish a foothold on the Arabian peninsula.
Protesters insist that they have no love for Iran and are only seeking justice for themselves.
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33 Comments so far
Show AllRead this and weep. Weep for the brave people of Bahrain. Weep for the people in the US, for when we finally decide to rise up in mass, this is the kind of treatment that will be rained down on us.
Blessings to the people of Bahrain. May they stand courageous and strong.
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And just as with Mubarak, Killary and the 0-Bomber will support the ruling thugocracy of Bahrain to the bitter end.
"royal ramily". What a bizarre concept. An accident of birth gives them the "right" to order an army to shoot other people, people who are infinitely valuable. There is nothing royal about this family. They eat and shit just like anyone else. They steal whatever they can. They are spoiled, parasitical psychos.
We should withdraw our Naval base and stop all aid to the effin monarchs.
Here our rulers are more subtle. They do not openly claim the privileges of royal birth. They cultivate the impression that they have somehow earned the rights to rob from the poor, make the rules and order armies out to shoot innocents, and that they are so special that they cannot possibly meet their basic human needs without millions and billions of personal income.
Their power and position depends in large part on our willingness to buy into these bizarre notions of their superiority and our inferiority. Without that, they are nothing. They produce nothing. They do not know how to take care of themselves without servants.
Please explain to your children that the "Princess and the Pea" story is a crock. Poor people, like their sisters and mothers, are not dulled and can feel pain as acutely as princesses can.
Well said. The goons calling themselves royalty are nothing but a royal pain in the ass.
It's time for some 2nd amendment solutions to deal with those tyrants.
It is a weird concept but one that has been with humanity since they've been doing history. Some guy declares himself to be king and a big segment of the population agrees and goes to war to keep him as king, or grab up some land so he can be an even bigger king. The mothers feel all proud that their sons are brave warriors in search of "glory," whatever that is. The best things these wars accomplished was to let one tribe be on top for awhile, then times change and a new batch of kings (and some female queens) show up and the whole murderous process starts again.
Today kings and queens are mostly powerless (but rich) except the mid-east sheiks.
Today we have "leaders," "presidents," "chief executive officers," "commanders in chiefs" who can command that things happen ("Make it so"). Some of them make noble speeches, and the soldiers follow them on to war and the whole dumb slaughter starts up again. Kingship is one of the things humanity has to outgrow in order for some survival to happen.
jclientelle....good post! How true. It is time for a world change. How we get there may be painful. Now, in the 21st Century, we don't need kings and monarchs and royalty. We need cooperation among all people. We all need to survive with the same power, commodities, basic needs met, etc., as everyone else. The more people recognize this, the more likely we are to keep moving forward in this direction.
How much does the US spend on Bahrainian "stability?"
Did anyone check the tear gas canisters they were met with? Made in USA?
As I understand it, the ruling family of Bahrain is Sunni, while the majority of the popultation are Shiite. It's almost like the royal family does not viiew these people as even human, while the US doesn't care because they fear they are just like Iranians.
Of course the USA supports this slaughter.
there you go!
off with their royal HEADS!
I am appalled by the events in Bahrain and its very inhuman leaders. I support those who fight tyranny no matter where it takes a foothold.
I suppose the US will have to give them a billion or so to keep "order" in their country. After all, they have to have money to buy more weapons from our arms dealers, don't they?
DC doesn't know the difference between a swamp and a dairy, but they should, as DC was built on a swamp.
Hear me, politicians, lobbyists and bureaucrats. In a dairy, the cream rises to the top. In a swamp, the scum rises to the top.
You are no dairy, believe me.
Iraq had a Sunni minority "thugocracy" (thanks Corvo) ruling a Shiah majority, and that was fine with the US administration which helped them in the 1980 war against Iran. Then Saddam was persuaded by the French to change his oil revenues from dollars to euros, which the US could not allow. So they told him the US would not intervene if he invaded Kuwait. They lied. When the war of George I did not change the dollar/euro situation, George II was installed, contrary to the will of the people, and a casus belli was organised to complete war and install a dollar-supporting regime in Iraq.
The question is: What if the Shiah majority took power in Bahrain and switched oil revenues from the dollar to the euro? The US cannot allow that to happen.
The US may not have the wherewithal to prevent something like that from happening that much longer. I bet the folks in DC are wishing they had a way to put the genie of the Islamic people back in the bottle. Whenever either the president or Hillary speak about what's going on over there you can actually see power slipping away.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P1fihT5B7o
Hey, Khalifa, I spent a few weeks in your shitty little country and I saw your fucking castle. I hope the citizens burn it to the ground. You live in luxury while everyone else lives in poverty. So fuck off asshole.
Go south out of Manama a few miles and the whole place is literally a garbage dump. Yes, there are lots of topnotch restaurants there. There are also major slums with dirt poor people on the east side of the city. "Shitty little country" may have been a bit over the top.
Bizarre that they don't call for the end of the monarchy, particularly after this evil attack. Bizarre that any people accept any monarchy, even ceremonial ones, like in GB.
And yet, as always, they do.
This is an incredible story. King orders helicopters to strafe citizens. Where is the U.N.? Where is international community? Where is the court of public opinion?
They are busy announcing Sanctions against Zimbabwe, North Korea and Iran for doing the same things.
I think it clear to everyone that the only reason those states are seem as "Pariahs" is because they have kicked out the Foreigners. The UN and its precious "security council" , a security council comprised of 5 of the most Imperialistic and mendacious countries in the world is a joke.
Oppression stands naked before the world..cold...calculating... the "post colonial" criminal and imposed "royal" clan hired foreign mercenaries to actually compose the military and "security" forces of Bahrain to make it easier to view the Shia of Bahrain as the "other" so as to murder them in cold blood. All aided and abetted by the biggest purveyor of violence in the world, the johnny-come-lately imperial power USA.
In the 21st century we still have kings slaughtering the peasants, the "subjects". Wow. Cool.
The US 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain.
Guess who gave the Bahraini military all those fun toys they have now turned on the people? Any bets that those same weapons are being used to keep the demonstrators away from the US Navy base?
And if things get heated in Wisconsin and Ohio, you can bet your asses that Hillary will still be blathering about 'Democracy(tm)' and 'Freedom(tm)' as she gives the order to gun US citizens down like dogs...
Non Serviam - I will not serve.
Well let's face it, the US, in it's unsullied support for these dictatorships in the ME, are the first in responsibility for these psychotic power-driven crimes against humanity. The 'Light on the Hill' has become the 'Darkness of the Grave'....the realm of all evil.