Violent Crackdown Against Pro-Democracy Protests in Bahrain

Posted on November 10, 2020 by pirhi

Update (1:54 PM EST):

While most eyes of the international press were focused on the dramatic and unfolding violence in Egypt on Wednesday, a security crackdown on pro-democracy activists was also underway in Bahrain with police firing birdshot and teargas on protesters hoping to reinvigorate their struggle against the ruling US-backed monarchy.

The Associated Press reports:

And this is nothing new in Bahrain.

As Bahrain expert Marc Own Jones writes for CNN:

And this blog powered by Storify, was collecting and sharing social media concerning Wednesday’s protest:

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Planned anti-government protests in the country of Bahrain on Wednesday are an opportunity for the US government to prove it could use its influence in the small Gulf state to support the pro-democracy movement there, say human rights advocates.

While the Sunni-led royal government has vowed to “forcefully confront” the opposition protests, observers say that events in Bahrain have far-reaching consequences for the way the US is perceived around the region and the world.

As the Associated Press reports:

The Tamarod, or rebel movement, which has organized today’s protests plan to march on the US embassy in the capitol of Manama in order to draw attention to the symbiotic relationship between the global superpower and the minority-controlled monarchy.

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Because of its close ties to the Saudi royal family and its hosting of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, Bahrain has been seen a country where the US could, but has chosen not, exert more influence when it comes to protecting human rights and advocating pro-democracy reforms.

As Jeffrey Bachman and Matar Ebrahim Matar, both experts on the island nation, write this week:

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