Bahrain, Iran and the Obama Administration

[Che -Guevara]

Security forces in Bahrain have dispersed thousands of anti-government protesters in Pearl Square in the centre of capital, Manama.

 

Hundreds of riot police using tear gas and batons moved into the square before dawn on Thursday.

 

At least two people were killed in the police operation, the opposition says.

 

The protesters are calling for wide-ranging political reforms and had been camped out since Tuesday.

 

Clashes earlier in the week left two dead and dozens injured in the country.

 

Tear gas

 

Ibrahim Sherif, of the secular Waad party, told the BBC that the police had acted without any warning at about 0300 (0000 GMT).

 

"Throughout the day there were rumours that we would have another 24 hours, but the attack has come without warning.

 

"You have hundreds of women and children already camping there. People are sleeping in the tents [...] there is a dense fog of tear gas, these people could be trapped there and inhaling this tear gas," he said.

 

He said that he had seen at least 100 riot police on one side of the square and hundreds of people running away from the square down the side roads.

 

He added that two people were killed as Pearl Square was cleared, and a third person was in critical condition.

 

Bahrain is a key US ally, hosting the US Navy's Fifth Fleet. The US has expressed concern at the violence and called for restraint.

 

Wednesday saw more than 1,000 people attend the funeral in Manama of a man who was killed on Tuesday during clashes with police at the funeral of another protester. Mourners chanted slogans calling for the removal of the government.

 

Police officers are reported to have been detained over the two deaths, with the country's interior minister describing the deaths as "regrettable" and extending condolences to the families of the deceased.

 

The disturbances in Bahrain - where the Shia Muslim majority has been ruled by a Sunni Muslim royal family since the 18th Century - are part of a wave of anti-government unrest that has swept the Middle East.

 

The Bahraini demonstrators say they want:

 

* political prisoners to be released

* more jobs and housing

* the creation of a more representative and empowered parliament

* a new constitution written by the people

* a new cabinet that does not include Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa, who has been in office for 40 years

 

In a rare TV appearance on Tuesday, Bahrain's king, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, expressed regret about the deaths of protesters and said he would continue reforms begun in 2002 when the emirate became a constitutional monarchy.

Opposition boycott

 

Since independence from the UK in 1971, tensions between the Sunni elite and the less affluent Shia have frequently caused civil unrest. Shia groups say they are marginalised, subject to unfair laws, and repressed.

 

The conflict lessened in 1999 when Sheikh Hamad became emir. He freed political prisoners, allowed exiles to return and abolished a law permitting the government to detain individuals without trial for three years.

 

He also began a cautious process of democratic reform. In 2001, voters approved a National Action Charter that would transform Bahrain into a constitutional monarchy. The next year, Sheikh Hamad proclaimed himself king and decreed that a National Assembly be formed.

 

There was also greater protection of democracy and human rights. Although political parties were banned, "political societies" could operate.

 

Landmark elections were held in 2002, but the opposition boycotted them because the appointed upper chamber of parliament, the Shura Council, was given equal powers to the elected lower chamber, the Council of Representatives.

 

BBC

[Che -Guevara]

Iran protests: Clashes at demonstrator's Tehran funeral

 

Fresh clashes have erupted in Tehran during the funeral of a student killed in anti-government protests on Monday, Iranian state television says.

 

Rival groups of pro- and anti-government protesters both claim the dead man as one of their supporters.

 

Sanea Jaleh, 26, was among two people killed during Monday's protests, when thousands of opposition members rallied for the first time in more than a year.

 

The protests come amid a wave of unrest in the Middle East and North Africa.

Tight security

 

Wednesday's clash took place during Mr Jaleh's funeral procession, which started at Tehran University in the centre of the capital, broadcaster Irib reported.

 

"Students and the people attending the funeral ceremony... have clashed with a limited number of people apparently linked to the sedition [opposition] movement and forced them out by chanting slogans of death to hypocrites," the report on the state-run channel said.

 

It gave no details of any injuries.

 

The BBC's Mohsen Asgari, who attended the ceremony in Tehran, said he did not see any major clashes. But he said police forces had blocked all the roads leading to the university and were only allowing in pro-government supporters.

 

On Monday, thousands of supporters of opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi took to the streets of Tehran to show solidarity with the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, which have both succeeded in toppling their unpopular leaders.

 

Two people were killed and several wounded during Monday's clashes with riot police in Tehran. Some 1,500 people have been detained, opposition groups say, but official figures put the number at 150.

'Pay the price'

 

Following the deadly clashes, Iranian MPs called for the two opposition leaders to be tried and executed.

 

But Mr Karroubi and Mr Mousavi - who are both being held under de facto house arrest - issued defiant statements via their websites on Wednesday.

 

"I am not afraid of any kind of threat and as a soldier of this great nation for the past almost 50 years, I am ready to pay any price," Mr Karroubi said on his official site Sahamnews.org.

 

In a separate statement on his own website, Kaleme.com, Mr Mousavi praised the protesters for Monday's rally.

 

"The glorious rally on 25 Bahman (14 February) is a great achievement for the great people of a great nation and for the Green Movement," he said, referring to the opposition movement and its supporters.

 

The protests were the first anti-government demonstration since February 2010, when similar agitation was crushed by security forces and militiamen.

 

Opposition supporters maintain that the re-election of President Ahmadinejad in June 2009 was rigged.

 

Many of the slogans chanted by protesters on Monday were aimed against the most senior figure in the Iranian regime - Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

 

He is seen by them as the power behind the opposition crackdown, Mr Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election, and behind many of the president's domestic and foreign polices which have brought hardship to Iranians.

 

President Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that the latest opposition protests seen in Iranian cities were "going nowhere" and vowed to punish their organisers.

 

US President Barack Obama sharply criticised the authorities' response.

 

BBC

[Che -Guevara]

A case of national security interest vs. supposed American democratic ideals-will the Obama administration ratchet up their rhetoric against the Royal Family as they have against the Iranian Theocracy?

 

On Bahrain

 

"Bahrain is a key US ally, hosting the US Navy's Fifth Fleet. The US has expressed concern at the violence and called for restraint."

 

On Iran

 

"US President Barack Obama sharply criticised the authorities' response."

[Taleexi]

Interesting cases to watch for American dual approaches on similar conflict.

[Che -Guevara]

^Interesting indeed, the Bahrain Government attacked people camping at the Pearl Square. People camping in the square included families of toddlers and infants-not bad publicity.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

'Dual' approaches ma'ahee waa hypocritical approaches. You can almost taste the animated words of Hillary Clinton when she talks about banaanbaxyada yar yar ka socdo Iiraan, but kuwa Baxreena? They are even more scared than kuwii Masar ka socday maadaama Baxreen Shiica (read: Iiraan, Iiraan) qabsada ka cabsanaayaan

 

Obama's maamul awalba xishmad yar u haaye laakiin waxaan waa too much.

[Valenteenah.]

Can the King really get away with such a violent attack on protesters? I was gobsmacked at the footage.

[Che -Guevara]

^Apparently he can. Here's the army using live rounds to disperse demonstrators