CLASHES ERUPT IN BAHRAIN

      The police officers raised their weapons and fired rubber bullets and canisters of tear gas directly in to a small group of protesters chanting slogans and holding signs on February 14. The scene,on Avenue 28 around 5.30 pm was played out all over this island nation of Bahrain on February 14 as the police attacked peaceful protesters men, women and children. The police firing at them with rubber bullets and over whelming them with tear gas. The tear gas was so heavy
     Bahrain- a small nation in the persian Gulf, with only about one million residents,half of them foreign workers. The principal tension is between the royal family under king Hamad bin Isa al-khalifa and the ruling elites, who are mostly sunnis, on one side,and the approximately 7o percent of the local population that is
 shiite on the other. Occupying mostly run-down villages with cinder block buildings and little else, many shiites say they face systemic  discrimination in employment.
    All of the protests on February 14 were in Shiite communities,with demands that were both economic and political. Young people said they mostly wanted jobs and a chance at a better life. But protesters called for a new constitution and democratic changes to allow for a more effective representative parliament and government.

Prof. John Kurakar