MARCH 7, 2011
Bahrain Opposition Steps Up Pressure
By JOE PARKINSON And NOUR MALAS
MANAMA, Bahrain--Tens of thousands of Bahraini opposition demonstrators encircled a sprawling government compound Sunday in a gathering timed to coincide with a cabinet meeting, amid growing pressure on the ruling family to accept sweeping reforms.
In an escalation of a strategy that has seen opposition demonstrators target key government ministries, protesters early on Sunday took up positions at each of the government complex's four gates and repeated calls for the fall of the government. Behind the gates, hundreds of riot police stood guard, while police helicopters circled overhead.
The protest aimed to frustrate the weekly cabinet meeting at which Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa coordinates policy with the heads of Bahrain's top ministries. Bahrain's information ministry said the cabinet meeting "took place in Gudaibiya Palace, as usual."
Opposition groups cite the resignation of the prime minister, who has been in his post for 41 years, as one of their major preconditions for joining direct talks with the ruling family, along with the resignation of the cabinet he leads.
In an interview with Bahrain state television late Sunday, Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa sought to ease tensions, stressing the government was making progress on brokering talks with the opposition, but warning neither side should set conditions before the talks begin.
"Bahraini citizens should not feel there is a void. There is progress and there are results. ...There is no solution to solve this crisis besides dialogue," he said, adding, "one side cannot set a ceiling, or the aim, of dialogue before it begins."
Opposition leaders said the message was reassuring but lacked specifics. "He wanted to give comfort to all sides without being specific. ...I think he sent a reasonable message that things are not totally out of control. But there was nothing specific, and it's difficult to see when formal dialogue will start," said Ebrahim Sharif, a Sunni Muslim and former banker who heads the National Democratic Action Society, one of the groups tasked with unifying the opposition's message.
The protest Sunday, the first day of the workweek here, comes after a weekend of huge demonstrations across the capital. On Friday, more than 100,000 protesters gathered in Manama for the largest demonstration in the city's center since protests erupted in the Sunni-ruled kingdom almost three weeks ago.
Protesters gathered again Saturday to form a human chain between the Pearl roundabout, the focal point of antigovernment demonstrations, and the country's main Sunni mosque, where large groups of pro-government supporters have congregated to voice support for the monarchy.
Shiite-led antigovernment protests and Sunni-dominated pro-government rallies have been careful to stress national unity and avoid sectarian slogans, but tensions between the groups have escalated in recent days as opposition protests have gathered momentum and government loyalists have objected to the demonstrations' mounting impact on the economy.
Those tensions were manifested late Thursday in fighting between Sunni and majority Shiite Muslims in the first sectarian violence since protests began. Fighting between a group of Shiites and Bahraini Sunnis of Syrian and Jordanian extraction occurred in Hamad, a town on the outskirts of Manama, before riot police arrived and dispersed them, local residents said. Only half of Bahrain's population of 1.2 million are native Bahrainis.
The Ministry of Interior said it took police about two hours to get the situation under control, with the help of local politicians and high-ranking government officials who calmed residents.
"We feel the government is trying to separate the Bahrainis and it's a dangerous new development, but today's protest shows we're united. ... We will keep building pressure until the government falls," said Jawad Fairooz, an opposition lawmaker.
Bahrain's information ministry said the country's crown prince has made clear he intends to begin a national dialogue with all sections of society to "move away from polarization and ensure that sectarianism does not take root in Bahrain."
Persistent protests and growing sectarian tensions in Bahrain are likely to heighten concerns in neighboring Saudi Arabia, the region's largest economy, where a restive Shiite minority in the oil-rich Eastern Province took to the streets Thursday to protest the arrest Feb. 26 of prominent cleric Tawfiq al-Amir, who had called for more religious freedom in a sermon two days earlier.
Saudi authorities on Thursday night detained 22 people in Qatif, the main Shiite town in the Eastern Province, after they staged a demonstration demanding the release of prisoners they say are being held without trial.
"About 200 people took to the streets in Qatif on Thursday night. The protests were peaceful, but still the authorities interfered; they tried to stop them and arrested 22 people," according to Human Rights First, an independent human-rights group.
In Bahrain, which is connected by a short causeway to Saudi Arabia, the government has offered a series of concessions over the past week, releasing 308 political prisoners, reshuffling the cabinet and reducing citizens' monthly housing costs by 25% in a move to assuage protesters' demands.
But the antigovernment movement has kept up the pressure for deeper reform.
Formal opposition groups on Thursday officially submitted demands to the ruling Al-Khalifa family that included the introduction of a constitutional monarchy and the dissolution of the government, a move that underlined opposition groups' determination to secure sweeping political change but that risked splintering antigovernment forces between those prepared for dialogue and radicals insisting the entire regime must fall.
The grouping of six main opposition parties, including the major Shiite opposition bloc, Al-Wefaq, as well as secular groups, outlined its core demands at a press conference in Manama. The proposals included the release of all political prisoners, electoral reform and the formation of a new interim government, along with an independent investigation into the deaths of seven protesters since the clashes here began more than a week ago.
Write to Joe Parkinson at joe.parkinson@dowjones.com and Nour Malas at nour.malas@dowjones.com