Bahrain Shiite majority in pre-poll show of strength by Ali Khalil
Tue Nov 21, 9:44 AM ET
Thousands of Bahraini Shiites hailed the majority community’s sometimes bloody campaign for democracy in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom as they put on a rare show of strength ahead of Saturday’s polls.
Leaders of the main Shiite party contesting the elections tempered the message of defiance with calls for national unity and conciliation with the Sunni elite.
But rank and file supporters of the Islamic National Accord Association (Al-Wifaq) punched their fists in the air as they paid tribute to the movement’s martyrs at a mass rally Monday evening.
Bahrain Shiite majority in pre-poll show of strength by Ali Khalil
Tue Nov 21, 9:44 AM ET
Thousands of Bahraini Shiites hailed the majority community’s sometimes bloody campaign for democracy in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom as they put on a rare show of strength ahead of Saturday’s polls.
Leaders of the main Shiite party contesting the elections tempered the message of defiance with calls for national unity and conciliation with the Sunni elite.
But rank and file supporters of the Islamic National Accord Association (Al-Wifaq) punched their fists in the air as they paid tribute to the movement’s martyrs at a mass rally Monday evening.
“We should evoke the memory of resistance … and the blood that was shed on this land,” a podium speaker told the crowd, which organizers put at more than 20,000.
“We shall never forget the blood of the martyrs … nor the moaning of the widows … and the torture against prisoners,” the speaker added, referring to the Shiite’s long campaign for the restoration of parliament which met a sometimes bloody response from the authorities in the 1990s.
The crowd responded with chants of “Allahu Akbar” (God is the Greatest) and slogans hailing the military power of their fellow Shiites in Lebanon’s Hezbollah and Iraq’s increasingly powerful militias.
Party leader Sheikh Ali Salman, a charismatic cleric in his late 30s, also paid tribute to the movement’s fallen in his address to the crowd.
“Wifaq is a continuation of (the path of) all martyrs, especially the martyrs of the 1990s,” he said.
But Salman stressed that the party was not sectarian and sought to win the votes of minority Sunnis as well as Shiites.
“Wifaq (works) for you my Sunni brother, and for you my Shiite brother. It embraces this homeland with all its colours,” he said.
To hammer home the message, a small choir of youngsters in traditional dress held aloft a 10-metre (more than 30 foot) national flag.
“Today we have to tell this homeland … that all those people gathering here love Bahrain, their homeland,” the choir sang.
The Sunni-ruled Gulf states, with neighbouring oil giant Saudi Arabia at the fore, have expressed mounting concern over the growing influence in the region of Shiite-led Iran.
Salman cautioned supporters not to expect change overnight in the Gulf archipelago, where the demands of the Shiite-led opposition have yet to be met in full.
His Wifaq group joined other Shiite parties in boycotting 2002 elections after King Hamad restored parliament but created an appointed second chamber alongside the elected house, and some opposition groups are to maintain their boycott on Saturday.
“We work for serious reform … constitutional reform which would give citizens the feeling of being part of decision-making,” Salman said, adding that he does not object to gradual reform, as long as it does not turn to “procrastination”.
But he also asked his supporters to be realistic about the outcome of Saturday’s elections, predicting that the Shiite-led opposition would win at best 26 seats in the 40-strong elected house which would continue to share power with the appointed second chamber.
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