Bahrain protests spread to financial centre

Bahrain protests spread to financial centre

* Police clash with demonstrators trying to occupy Manama’s banking centre

* Regime loyalists armed with knives, clubs fight university students

MANAMA: Bahraini police on Sunday clashed with demonstrators trying to occupy Manama’s banking centre, as protests spread from a peaceful sit-in to the heart of the strategic Gulf state’s business district.

Witnesses said police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at around 350 activists who had sealed off the Financial Harbour business complex with road blocks and a human chain. Some 200 people were overcome by the gas which wafted through the heart of the wealthy harbour side area, while the interior ministry said 14 policemen were injured. Thousands of protesters however returned to the area later in the afternoon, residents said.

Regime loyalists armed with knives and clubs meanwhile fought students at the university, and police fired tear gas at protesters occupying Pearl Square, which is a short distance from the financial district, witnesses said. “The regime is using thugs,” said Khalil Marzooq, who is a member of the main Shia opposition group.

King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa reiterated an offer of dialogue with the main opposition groups, which have refused to negotiate until the government resigns and dissidents are released from jail. “I call all parties to meet quickly around the table and be open-minded and well-intentioned to reach a national consensus,” he said in a statement quoted by the BNA state news agency, after a meeting with Jordan’s foreign minister.

Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, who joined King Hamad in talks on Saturday with visiting US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, has also urged the opposition to come to the negotiating table. “I’m hopeful that they will join the dialogue without preconditions. We have given them the best deal they can hope for,” he told reporters Saturday.

Meanwhile, Bahrain’s main trade union announced an open-ended strike starting on Sunday to protest the use of force against protesters. “This is in violation of human rights and international conventions ratified by the kingdom of Bahrain,” said the General Federation of Workers Trade Unions.

The Iranian-backed Shia Lebanese movement Hezbollah condemned “the excessive use of violence to suppress peaceful demonstrations by the people of Bahrain who are seeking to secure their legitimate political rights.”

Bahrain — home of the US Fifth Fleet — has become a regional financial hub as it seeks to diversify its economy away from a dependence on diminishing oil revenues. Protests in Shia-majority Bahrain, which has been ruled by a Sunni dynasty for more than 200 years, broke out after popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia ousted those countries’ long-time autocratic rulers. The main opposition groups have stopped short of demanding the toppling of the king, but more extreme hardliners have been vocal in calling for the end of monarchy.

Gates said he told Bahrain’s leaders to quickly adopt far-reaching reforms or risk being swamped by the tide of democratic change sweeping the Arab world. He also warned that Shia-led Iran would likely work to use Bahrain’s sectarian tensions to its advantage. The US defence chief said he came away encouraged the country’s leaders king were prepared to accommodate anti-government protesters.

With unrest sweeping the Middle East and North Africa, the United States has struggled to balance its long standing ties with Arab regimes with support for protests demanding democratic reform. afp