{"id":17079,"date":"2013-04-16T15:18:32","date_gmt":"2013-04-16T21:18:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=17079"},"modified":"2013-04-16T15:18:32","modified_gmt":"2013-04-16T21:18:32","slug":"british-mps-call-for-cessation-of-bloody-f1-in-bahrain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/?p=17079","title":{"rendered":"British MPs call for cessation of Bloody F1 in Bahrain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bahrain Grand Prix: MPs want race cancelled because of unrest<\/strong>
\n16 April, 2013 – BCC Sport<\/p>\n

A group of British MPs have called for the Bahrain Grand Prix to be cancelled amid unrest in the Gulf state.<\/p>\n

A week of protests to coincide with this weekend’s race began last Friday, organised by the opposition to the ruling royal family.<\/p>\n

In a letter to F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Democracy in Bahrain said: “We request you cancel the Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

“It is likely to attract as much negative publicity as last year.”<\/p>\n

The APPG has also written to broadcasters, teams, drivers and sponsors ahead of the Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

The 2011 event was postponed and later cancelled after month-long pro-democracy protests were crushed and at least 35 people died. <\/p>\n

Reaction of F1 teams<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ferrari: “It is up to the federation [the FIA] to give us any indications as to whether extra precautions need to be taken. So far, no [they haven’t].”<\/p>\n

Red Bull: “The team will be vigilant and take sensible precautions, but otherwise we are approaching this race in the same way we do all races.”<\/p>\n

McLaren: “The team will be staying very near the circuit, at a hotel that has very good security, and we feel that no extra security measures are therefore necessary for us.”<\/p>\n

Williams: “We are adhering to our normal security measures in Bahrain and just using usual common sense, nothing more.”<\/p>\n

Mercedes: “The safety of our employees is our highest priority and we will follow the guidance of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) concerning travel to the region.”<\/p>\n

Last year’s race went ahead once Ecclestone and governing body the FIA said they had been assured the kingdom was safe for F1 personnel.<\/p>\n

There are similar concerns this time around and, in a letter signed by 20 MPs, the All-Party Group asked Ecclestone to call off the Grand Prix.<\/p>\n

“Since April 2012, many more people including children have lost their lives and the whole country exists in fear and intimidation,” wrote Andy Slaughter, chairman of the Group.<\/p>\n

“Last year’s race was held under conditions of martial law. Three hundred protesters were arrested, some spending months in jail.<\/p>\n

“I think most democratic-minded people would be appalled if you allowed the Bahrain leg of the Formula 1 championship to go ahead amidst the most atrocious human rights violations.”<\/p>\n

A report in the New York Times claimed that authorities in Bahrain were increasing security following a series of explosions in the country. …more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Bahrain Grand Prix: MPs want race cancelled because of unrest 16 April, 2013 – BCC Sport A group of British MPs have called for the Bahrain Grand Prix to be cancelled amid unrest in the Gulf state. A week of protests to coincide with this weekend’s race began last Friday, organised by the opposition to more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[247],"tags":[2840],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17079"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17080,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17079\/revisions\/17080"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crookedbough.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}