VIOLENT CLASHES ERUPT IN SEVERAL SHIA VILLAGES

C O N F I D E N T I A L MANAMA 000080 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/21/2016 TAGS: PGOV ASEC PHUM BA REFORM POL SUBJECT: VIOLENT CLASHES ERUPT IN SEVERAL SHIA VILLAGES REF: A. MANAMA 0049 ¶B. MANAMA 0013 ¶C. 05 MANAMA 1916 ¶D. 05 MANAMA 1910 Classified by DCM Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) Demonstrators and some 100 riot police clashed the evening of January 19 in several Shia villages following an illegal rally in support of 21 youth detained for participating in a riot at the Bahrain International Airport on December 25. According to press reports, the 200-person march in Sanabis, a Shia village directly adjacent to two upscale shopping malls, proceeded peacefully until masked men arrived and threw Molotov cocktails at a cordon of riot police. Police fired teargas and what newspapers called rubber bullets at the attackers. The masked youths retaliated by overturning dumpsters and setting them on fire. The confrontations spread to neighboring villages Jid Hafs and Daih as the police pursued the demonstrators. The protest was supposed to have taken place near the Al Khawaja mosque in downtown Manama but organizers changed the location due to the heavy police presence in the vicinity of the mosque. ¶2. (C) Interior Ministry contacts told Emboffs that police used "rubber batons" to break up the attackers. This was the first time the Ministry has acknowledged using rubber projectiles against protesters in almost three years. An official described the rubber batons as being a crowd control device that employs less force and is less lethal than traditional rubber bullets. He said the batons were used for self-defense only. Several demonstrators were injured in the confrontations and three went to the hospital. Interior Ministry Under Secretary Shaikh Daij bin Khalifa Al Khalifa told the press January 20 that a number of rioters were arrested and, if convicted, could receive sentences of up to ten years in prison. ¶3. (C) Comment: The January 19 clashes are the latest in a series of violent confrontations between police and Shia youth since last November. The immediate reason for the demonstration that led to the violence was the continued detention of a group of young men who destroyed part of the airport arrivals lounge in December but, as one participant told the press, "the youth are angry" and need little provocation to resort to violence. Ironically, as the clashes were underway, members of leading Shia opposition political society Al Wifaq were voting for representatives for the organization's advisory council, which has been tasked with deciding whether Al Wifaq candidates should stand in parliamentary elections in October 2006. The two activities starkly demonstrate the choice facing Shia activists - participation within the political system or confrontations in the streets. MONROE