I am reading and watching disturbing reports from Manama, Bahrain. Both my daughter and my son are there (along with my niece and other family) and I have warned them to stay home! Do not go out! Please!
Please listen to Lucas Oleniuk's report Chaos in Bahrain, which is accompanied by photos.
There have been more killings of Bahraini protesters by "security forces." (I hate that term; I think we know by now that these forces, wherever they are, in the ME or in Canada-- the recent G20 abuses by "security forces" for one-- are terrorizing forces that cause much fear and damage to people, to citizens seeking to express their voice against government policies).
I am sure you have read the reports about the 3 a.m. attack by "security forces" on sleeping unarmed people who had set up protest tents in the Pearl Roundabout, a majestic landmark in the heart of Manama. Many deaths and injuries were reported, including missing people, bludgeoned people, people stolen away to the military hospital or in military vans to who knows where, the violent beating of doctors, and other horrors.
On the latest developments, AJE reports that
"Shots were fired by soldiers around Pearl roundabout in Manama, the Bahraini capital, a day after police forcibly cleared a protest encampment from the traffic circle.
The circumstances of the shooting after nightfall on Friday were not clear. Officials at the main Salmaniya hospital said at least 66 people were injured, some with gunshot wounds to the head and chest.
....A doctor of Salmaniya hospital told Al Jazeera that the hospital is full of severely injured people after the latest shootings.
"We need help! Our staff is entirely overwhelmed. They are shooting at people's heads. Not at the legs. People are having their brains blown out," a distraught Dr Ghassan said, describing the chaos at the hospital as something close to a war zone."
Earlier I read on CBC News that
Bahrain police attack hospital
"Riot police attacked protesters with tear gas and gunfire at a hospital compound in Bahrain's capital on Friday.The hospital is a triage centre in Manama that was housing most of the victims after riot police on Thursday attacked a protest camp in Pearl Square, leaving at least 230 injured.
"Just in the last 15 minutes, tear gas and some rounds have been fired into that hospital. There has also been very heavy gunfire around the site of the tent cities where protestors were evicted," Martin Chulov of the British newspaper the Guardian told CBC News.
"Everybody is trying to assess the fallout from this situation now but we do believe there are wounded.""
4 comments:
Oh dear, what a worry for you, Taina! I sincerely hope your family will be safe and unhurt. So much unrest in the world right now... though it's not really surprising is it?
Bahrain's "security forces" is just like Hitler's Gestapo in ancient Germany. Let's hope your family can get safely back home very soon.
I'm worried about your daughter and son and family being in that terrible situation. I hope nothing happens to them or to anybody else for that matter. Much love, M.
thank you, ML, Ari, and MP for your thoughtful concern. My family is fine, and they are skilled in dealing with difficult situations (having been in Lebanon when Israel invaded and bombed the country in 2006).
Let's hope that Bahrain takes it way on a path to justice. There is much work to do.
Post a Comment