Bahrain Live Blog

A Bahraini woman faces off against riot police at a protest on the outskirts of the capital Manama [EPA]

One year after the pro-democracy uprising began on February 14, protests against the ruling al-Khalifa monarchy continue across Bahrain. 

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1 day 6 hours ago - Bahrain

Bahrain launches ticket sales, new slogan for F1 race despite ongoing protest in the country. [AP]

Tags F1, protest, tickets
2 days 3 min ago - Bahrain

Bahraini police used water cannon and tear gas to break up a march chanting anti-government slogans after a funeral on Monday, while protesters were arrested for approaching a roundabout at the centre of an uprising last year.

The clash took place in Jidhafs, an area just outside the capital Manama, after the funeral of Hussein al-Baqali, 19, whose family says he died this week from burns sustained last month during a tyre-burning at anti-government protests.

His family says he was unable to go to state hospitals for fear of arrest. The Interior Ministry said he set himself alight with intent to commit suicide.

"After the burial of Hussain al-Baqali in Jidhafs, groups of vandals rioted. Police legally dispersed them," the Interior Ministry said in its Twitter feed.

Police moved in on a group of over 500 people who marched down to a traffic junction inside the town, using two water cannon lorries backed up by helicopters and dozens of riot police in armoured vehicles and on foot firing tear gas. [Reuters]

Tags clashes, Funeral, Jidhafs
2 days 2 hours ago - Bahrain

A court in Manama on Monday acquitted Matar Matar, a former MP who is a member of Bahrain's largest opposition GROUP Al-Wefaq who was accused of "unlawful assembly in public areas."

"The last charge against me has been dropped," said Matar Matar, who had been charged with "undermining public security by assembling with a group of more than five people." [AFP]

3 days 1 hour ago - Bahrain

Bahrain Grand Prix officials began selling tickets Sunday for April's Formula One race in the Gulf kingdom, the latest sign the government is determined to hold the race despite ongoing protests, the Associated Press reported.

The season-opening race last year was canceled because of the unrest. This year's race is scheduled for April 22 and F1's governing body FIA has insisted the event will go ahead.

Tags Formula One, Grand Prix, racing
4 days 7 hours ago - Bahrain

Bahrain announced the deportation of four foreign activists for "taking part in illegal demonstrations," bringing to 12  the number expelled over the past week.

The four were deported for "lying on immigration forms" as their "visas were issued for the purposes of tourism but all were participating in illegal demonstrations," the official BNA news agency reported late on Friday.

The news agency did not specify the nationalities of those deported but the main Shia opposition group Al-Wefaq said they included one American and one Briton.

Last Tuesday marked the first anniversary of the launch of month-long Shia-led pro-democracy protests that were bloodily crushed by the kingdom's Sunni minority rulers with the help of a Saudi-led military intervention.

On the anniversary, the authorities announced the expulsion of eight Americans. Three days earlier, they deported two more.

The authorities have multiplied restrictions around the anniversary not only for foreign activists but also the international media, denying press visas to several news organisations including AFP news agency.

Tiny but strategic Bahrain is the home base of the US Fifth Fleet. [AFP]

Tags arrested, deported, foreign activists
5 days 25 min ago - Bahrain

Bahraini police detained two Western activists who had joined a women's protest on Friday, after clashing overnight with protesters in Shia districts of the Gulf Arab state.

The two women activists - one American, one British, according to protesters - were detained by riot police who broke up the protest with teargas and stun grenades, after an announcement on a police loudspeaker that the demonstration was illegal.

Riot police have maintained a heavier presence than usual in areas populated by majority Shia this week to prevent mass protests on the anniversary of the February 14 pro-democracy uprising last year which was put down by force.

"These women are protesting peacefully," shouted a woman identified by protesters as US activist Medea Benjamin, wearing a T-shirt that read "Unarmed civilian", as she was dragged away by women police.

A Bahraini woman choking from teargas was also dragged away.  Protesters identified the second detained foreign activist as Briton Elaine Martha.

- Reuters

Tags February 14, Manama, Pearl roundabout, protest, violence
5 days 14 hours ago - Bahrain

Bahraini police and anti-government protesters clashed in a number of Shia districts of the Gulf Arab state on Thursday night and the interior ministry said two policemen had been seriously injured in a petrol bomb attack, according to the Reuters news agency.

Riot police have maintained a heavier presence than usual in areas populated by majority Shias this week to prevent mass protests on the anniversary of the February 14 pro-democracy uprising last year.

In the district of Sar police fired volleys of stun grenades and tear gas to break up groups of teenagers who threw stones
and petrol bombs. It was not clear who started the clash. 

Police said homemade bombs containing nails had been thrown at them. In the nearby village of Bani Jamra police said they had defused an improvised explosive device left on wasteland.

Tags February 14, protests, revolution
1 week 7 hours ago - Bahrain

The Bahraini government has said in a statement it had deported six US citizens for joining the "illegal demonstrations," bringing the number of Americans expelled from Bahrain to eight since the end of last week.

Witnesses said the clashes, which took place in Shia neighbourhoods on the outskirts of the capital Manama, left many people wounded, but most received treatment in private homes.

Tags Shia protests
1 week 7 hours ago - Bahrain

Formula One chief Bernie Ecclestone has played down the outbreak of fresh unrest in Bahrain, insisting the violence posed no threat to this season's Grand Prix.

Bahraini police fired tear gas and birdshot at pro-democracy protesters in clashes early on Wednesday as the kingdom marked the first anniversary of a Shia-led uprising.

The violence revived memories of last year's unrest, which ultimately led to the cancellation of the 2011 race, which is due to take place this season on April 20-22.

However Ecclestone told UK-based The Guardian newspaper that the clashes were unlikely to lead to another cancellation.

"I expected there was going to be a big uprising, with the anniversary," Ecclestone was quoted as saying.

Tags Bernie Ecclestone, Formula One, Shia protests
1 week 1 day ago - Bahrain

We haven't heard of any large-scale protests in Bahrain today - just a few small groups trying to reach Pearl Roundabout, and ongoing clashes in various villages around the country.

As we said earlier, this seems to be in keeping with the government's strategy of keeping protests "bottled up" inside the villages. The interior ministry has tried to present these protests as isolated incidents - small groups "blocking roads" and "creating disturbances" in villages - rather than any kind of organised movement.

Tags Pearl roundabout, protests
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