Aletho News

Bahrain protest casualties on rise, government ‘gagging’ journalists

Press TV – March 19, 2011

The number of casualties from the Bahraini and Saudi crackdown continues to rise as another demonstrator has died of the wounds sustained in attacks on protesters.

On Saturday, the opposition Shia bloc Al-Wefaq reported that the protester died from wounds sustained in Pearl Square. It said that nearly 60 people were still unaccounted for.

Several people were killed after Bahraini and Saudi troops crushed a peaceful sit-in at Manama’s Pearl Square, which was later razed to the ground by the regime.

Security forces, supported by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), continued on Saturday to secure the capital after a brutal crackdown on protesters camped at Pearl Square in Manama on Wednesday.

Bahraini citizens are still under curfew, although now with reduced hours set from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.

Saudi Arabia has deployed more than 1,000 troops to the country while the UAE has dispatched around 500 police forces to assist in the repression of protesters.

Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed Al Khalifa has announced that three or four Persian Gulf countries would be sending troops to help the government.

Demonstrators in the Shia-majority country have been demanding the ouster of the 230-year-old Sunni-led monarchy as well as constitutional reform.

In addition to the 13 killed, more than 1,000 have been injured since February 14.

Bahrain government ‘gagging’ journalists

A senior leader from Bahrain Freedom Movement has condemned the monarchy’s “gagging” of activists and journalists covering anti-regime protests.

Speaking to Press TV during a London rally, Saeed al-Shahabi said the Bahrainis no longer trust the king’s call for national dialogue following the deployment of Saudi Arabian and UAE troops in Bahrain to crack down on protesters.

“I think the people have passed that stage. They are not interested now in talking to somebody who is killing them, who is bringing foreign forces to occupy their country, who is attacking religious symbols, who is gagging all journalists and arresting political leaders,” al-Shahabi said.

Many foreign journalists have been barred from covering anti-regime protests in Bahrain which have so far led to the death of at least 12 people and the injury of about 1,000 others.

Press TV’s correspondent in Manama Johnny Miller is among the many journalists who have been mistreated and deported from Bahrain.

Al-Shahabi said the government’s crackdown on civil liberties was “massive.” He also confirmed earlier reports that several opposition leaders were arrested in Manama on Friday.

Demonstrators in the Shia-majority country have been demanding the ouster of the 230-year-old Sunni-led monarchy as well as constitutional reforms, with hundreds camping out peacefully in the capital’s Pearl Square since February 14.

UAE soldiers arrived in crisis-hit Bahrain on Friday to join Saudi Arabian troops, who were sent there earlier this week, to help the Bahraini government’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.

March 19, 2011 - Posted by aletho | Civil Liberties, Subjugation - Torture