Manama, 10 June – Heavy clashes broke out as the Bahrain police targeted some 500 demonstrators protesting against the seizure of their village’s seashore lands by a cousin of the king, who claims the real estate as his private property. The residents of the village al-Malkiyah, west of Manama, many of whom are fishermen, have been protesting for over a year now against the construction of a 500 meter long wall on the orders of Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Salman al-Khalifa, the king’s cousin.
The wall is preventing them from reaching the seashore, depriving them of their livelihood. The fact that the al-Malkiyah village is Shiite, while the royal family as well as its political supporters are Sunnis, adds a grim note to the ongoing tension in Bahrain.
Manama, 10 June – Heavy clashes broke out as the Bahrain police targeted some 500 demonstrators protesting against the seizure of their village’s seashore lands by a cousin of the king, who claims the real estate as his private property. The residents of the village al-Malkiyah, west of Manama, many of whom are fishermen, have been protesting for over a year now against the construction of a 500 meter long wall on the orders of Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Salman al-Khalifa, the king’s cousin.
The wall is preventing them from reaching the seashore, depriving them of their livelihood. The fact that the al-Malkiyah village is Shiite, while the royal family as well as its political supporters are Sunnis, adds a grim note to the ongoing tension in Bahrain.