Bahrain’s leading Shiite opposi tion group told a cheering crowd of over 11,000 on Friday that only serious democratic reforms at a planned dialogue next month could end the tiny Gulf island kingdom’s political crisis.
Wefaq’s rally, a show of strength ahead of a political dialogue planned by Bahraini King Isa bin Hamad al-Khalifa next month, is the second in just under a week. The opposition group has vowed to continue organizing protests until their demands are met.
The rallies are the first mass political stirrings from the opposition since Bahraini forces crushed weeks of protests in March, clearing out thousands from a central roundabout in capital Manama, where they had been gathering since Feb. 14.
Photo: EPA
“There is no going back to the day before Feb. 14,” Wefaq leader Sheikh Ali Salman said, to a burst of cheers from the crowd, waving Bahraini flags as state helicopters buzzed overhead. “The root of the problem before Feb.14 was the marginalization of the people from decision-making.”
“The people must have the right to elect their government and be the source of power,” he said.
Bahrain’s Cabinet is dominated by the Sunni Muslim ruling family and the king also appoints all members of an upper assembly, minimizing the powers of the elected parliament.
The Sunni rulers of Bahrain, where the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based, accused the pro-democracy protesters, led mostly by majority Shiites, of harboring a sectarian agenda with backing from Shiite power Iran, just across Gulf waters.
The opposition says the charges are intended to distract Arab states and Bahrain’s close US ally from its political demands such as more representative elections, which some hardliners escalated to calls for the abolition of the monarchy.
Friday’s rally took place in the predominantly Shiite island of Sitra, just outside Manama, causing traffic jams of up to 5km around the area.
Wefaq members say they may next go to Muharraq, a mixed Sunni-Shiite village, or Manama itself. Both locations could prove more controversial than recent rallies in outlying Shiite areas of the capital, which the government has quietly accepted.
The rallies have not gone unnoticed by government supporters, who plan a counter-rally outside the prime minister’s palace.
“This is a rejection of the statements by Ali Salman from Wefaq, who considers himself a representative for Shiite and Sunni Bahrainis, and against his conditions [for talks] which the honorable people of the nation reject,” a statement calling for the counter-rally rally said.
Bahraini officials say all types of reform will be on the table next month. Wefaq wants talks to stick to political changes.
The head of the Information Affairs Authority has told Egyptian media during a visit to Cairo that about 60 groups, not all political, could take part, with about 300 people at the table.
Some members said privately they would be hesitant to join talks if such statements were true. Salman in his speech said such a possibility would lead to “a social gathering, not a political dialogue.”
Most protesters said their main concern was the release of hundreds of people detained during emergency law, which the king lifted just last week.
Dozens of detainees, including several leading opposition leaders such as the secular Ebrahim Shareef and the leader of a hard-line Shiite party Hassan Mushaimaa, are on military trial. Shareef and Mushaimaa are among a group of 21 on trial for plotting a coup with help from foreign “terrorist” groups.
“How can we have dialogue when our other top opposition leaders are in jail?” said one man, departing the rally, which ended calmly despite scattered outbursts of “Down, down [King] Hamad.”
“It’s a dialogue of the weak confronting the powerful,” he said.
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