It's been a long week in Bahrain.
Protests, strikes, pro government, pro democracy, killing, unauthorised weapons, police, army...what is happening?! If you've never heard of Bahrain, it is a lovely sunny little island in the Arabian Gulf. Used to be refferd to as the Island of Thousands Smiles, country of the million palms and most popular: the Pearl of the Gulf. The country is small in size and highly populated (for its size).
What started as a series of peaceful protests resulted in 2 deaths, ironically one shot in the protest and the second shot during the funeral of the first. A university student and a father of 3.
Filled with sadness, protesters marched with peaceful slogans to a landmark roundabout (since we don't have public squares) & sat there protesting peacefully asking for their demands to be met (mainly overdue reforms). The King apologised for the 2 deaths and allowed the protesters to stay at the roundabout for 3 days if they want to. At the dawn of the third day (at 3:00 am), riot police raided the sleeping protesters (mainly students on spring break, women, children, retired people) in their sleep without any notice given!! People ran left and right to find shelter, residents of the surrounding areas opened their houses to host the running protesters. A Massacre. Ambulances were forbidden to enter the area & peremadics were attacked by the police. 60 people were missing after the police closed all access to this area and cleaned every trace of a demonstration or public gathering. Missing people were found 6 days later (taken by the police and thrown in jail). The next day, the national army covered the city and the Foreign Minister refused any thoughts by the public that the army may ever hurt its people. A pro govrnment rally marched on the other side of the country surrounded by police for protection and ambulaces just in case. Live tv covered their rally. The same afternoon, using machine guns, the army fired at its own people who marched to them offering flowers as a gesture of peace. people died again, ambulances were forbidden to go again. During the shooting, the Crown Prince was live on National TV asking people to calm down.
Today, Pro Democracy are camping in the roundabout area. Pro Government are organising rallies everyday. Crown Prince is calling for a dialouge. Silent Majority is hoping for the best.
Why am I sharing this? not because I want the world to know...I just thought if I put this situation into words it might make sense. It didn't...
Sectarianism is scaring me. People are dividing. Friendships broken, Workplaces are ackward...after all this is over, how are we going to build the same friendships again? The situation is too much for everyone to handle, everyone is tensed, no one can believe what happened and everyone wants to stand up for their opinion which is creating uprisings on the social level.
I just hope when all this is over, we don't lose each other...
What started as a series of peaceful protests resulted in 2 deaths, ironically one shot in the protest and the second shot during the funeral of the first. A university student and a father of 3.
Filled with sadness, protesters marched with peaceful slogans to a landmark roundabout (since we don't have public squares) & sat there protesting peacefully asking for their demands to be met (mainly overdue reforms). The King apologised for the 2 deaths and allowed the protesters to stay at the roundabout for 3 days if they want to. At the dawn of the third day (at 3:00 am), riot police raided the sleeping protesters (mainly students on spring break, women, children, retired people) in their sleep without any notice given!! People ran left and right to find shelter, residents of the surrounding areas opened their houses to host the running protesters. A Massacre. Ambulances were forbidden to enter the area & peremadics were attacked by the police. 60 people were missing after the police closed all access to this area and cleaned every trace of a demonstration or public gathering. Missing people were found 6 days later (taken by the police and thrown in jail). The next day, the national army covered the city and the Foreign Minister refused any thoughts by the public that the army may ever hurt its people. A pro govrnment rally marched on the other side of the country surrounded by police for protection and ambulaces just in case. Live tv covered their rally. The same afternoon, using machine guns, the army fired at its own people who marched to them offering flowers as a gesture of peace. people died again, ambulances were forbidden to go again. During the shooting, the Crown Prince was live on National TV asking people to calm down.
Today, Pro Democracy are camping in the roundabout area. Pro Government are organising rallies everyday. Crown Prince is calling for a dialouge. Silent Majority is hoping for the best.
Why am I sharing this? not because I want the world to know...I just thought if I put this situation into words it might make sense. It didn't...
Sectarianism is scaring me. People are dividing. Friendships broken, Workplaces are ackward...after all this is over, how are we going to build the same friendships again? The situation is too much for everyone to handle, everyone is tensed, no one can believe what happened and everyone wants to stand up for their opinion which is creating uprisings on the social level.
I just hope when all this is over, we don't lose each other...
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