BAHRAINI AUTHORITIES HAVE TORN DOWN the 300-foot monument at Pearl Square in the capital Manama – the symbolic centre of an uprising which has been inflaming sectarian divisions in the region.
The monument comprised of six white curved beams bearing a huge cement ‘pearl’ was built as a tribute to the Sunni-ruled kingdom’s history as a pearl-diving centre and became the backdrop to the Shiite majority’s protests after demonstrators set up camps at the square.
On Wednesday, security forces stormed the square and pushed protesters out and at least five people were killed in the unrest that ensued. At least 12 people have been killed in the month-long uprising.
Bahrain’s foreign minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said that the monument was destroyed because “it was a bad memory”, adding, “we are not waging war, we are restoring law and order”.
Amateur video footage of security forces shooting and beating protesters has spread across the internet and fueled fury in predominantly Shiite Iraq and in Iran, where a senior cleric on Friday urged Bahraini protesters to keep going until victory or death.
Thousands of Bahrainis have defied a government ban on public gatherings to mourn the death of a protester killed on Tuesday in Sitra just hours after the king declared martial law.
Shiites account for 70 per cent of the tiny island’s half-million people but they are widely excluded from high-level posts and positions in the police and military of the country, which is home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet.
- Reporting from the AP and all images from the Press Association
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