Sunday, December 23, 2007
MANAMA, Bahrain: Bahrain authorities are holding a total of 39 people picked up in police raids over the last three days following a week of anti-government demonstrations, a local human rights group reported Sunday.
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights produced a list of 39 people arrested by police since Thursday, including three picked up in raids in the early hours of the morning Sunday.
The reformist daily Al-Wasat printed the list Sunday.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
MANAMA, Bahrain: Bahrain authorities are holding a total of 39 people picked up in police raids over the last three days following a week of anti-government demonstrations, a local human rights group reported Sunday.
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights produced a list of 39 people arrested by police since Thursday, including three picked up in raids in the early hours of the morning Sunday.
The reformist daily Al-Wasat printed the list Sunday.
While most of Bahrain’s newspaper reported the string of protests, demonstrations and arrests over the past week, Al-Wasat by far gave the most detailed coverage, showing photos of doors smashed in by police raiding parties and pictures of detainees, including one man who was allegedly stabbed while being arrested.
Protests erupted following the death of Bahraini citizen, Ali Jassem Monday after he inhaled tear gas at demonstration commemorating the social unrest in the 1990s.
Various demonstrations were held at his funeral and then at memorial services which resulted in severe clashes with security services and the burning of a police car.
A heavy police presence continued on Sunday in the streets of the island kingdom, especially around the northern Shiite villages where many of the protests have originated.
Shiites account for about 70 percent of Bahrain’s 450,000 citizens, but the ruling family is Sunni. Economic disparities between the ruling elite and the poorer majority have contributed to feelings of marginalization among Shiites, who have waged an occasionally violent campaign against the government.
Resentment among Bahrainis is also high over government policy of granting citizenship to Sunnis from Syria, Iraq, Yemen and the Baluchistan province in Pakistan and giving them housing and jobs, often in the security forces.