Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06MANAMA80
2006-01-22 11:30:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Manama
Cable title:  

VIOLENT CLASHES ERUPT IN SEVERAL SHIA VILLAGES

Tags:  PGOV ASEC PHUM BA REFORM POL 
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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).

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