Bahrain wary of protests before Formula One ruling
\nBy Andrew Hammond<\/p>\n
MANAMA | Thu Jun 2, 2011 6:13pm EDT<\/p>\n
MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahrain, eager for Formula One organizers to reinstate a motor race postponed after popular protests erupted in February, acted to prevent any unrest on Thursday after lifting martial law earlier in the week.<\/p>\n
Police patrolled the streets of Manama and villages around the capital to snuff out any pro-democracy protests before the world motor racing body meets Friday to decide whether Bahrain can stage its prestigious Grand Prix race this year.<\/p>\n
Bahrain’s Sunni royal family imposed military rule for three months and brought in Saudi and United Arab Emirates troops in mid-March to help quell protests mostly by majority Shi’ites.<\/p>\n
The government says the end of emergency law this week is a sign that things have gone back to normal in the island state, on the frontline of the cold war between Shi’ite power Iran and Sunni-ruled Gulf Arab dynasties allied with the United States.<\/p>\n
Thursday the Interior Ministry said it had imposed an indefinite ban on fishing and other activities in the country’s northern waters. It gave no reason but the government accuses Iran of fomenting unrest through links to opposition parties.<\/p>\n
“Let’s bring Bahrain Formula One back. Together we can,” signposts say in Manama.<\/p>\n
Rights activists say emergency law was ended two weeks early in order to win back the Bahrain Grand Prix.<\/p>\n
U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has said the sport’s governing body should weigh a heavy crackdown on opposition activists during 11 weeks of martial law when it makes its decision.<\/p>\n
Military trials of 21 mostly Shi’ite dissidents continue, but King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has offered new dialogue on reform with all sides, without spelling out its parameters.<\/p>\n
Zainab al-Khawaja, the daughter of one of the accused, was questioned by police Thursday over whether she took part in protests, she said on her Twitter account. She held a hunger strike in April after her father was arrested and later charged, like the others, with seeking to overthrow the system.
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