Bahrain's F1 Grand Prix starts amid tensions, as police scuffled with local activists who blocked roads protesting against the race they brand a “race for blood.” Mass protests have been calling for democracy and an end to the monarchy’s autocratic rule.
Masked youths clashed with police, piling tires on to roads and
setting them alight in Shiite villages surrounding the capital
city, Manama, a witness told AFP news agency. During the night riot
officers fired teargas into crowds of enraged protesters chanting
against the race.
However, in spite of protesters’ efforts, access to the Sakhir
circuit to the south of the capital remains open.
Tensions have been building over the last few weeks in the run up
to the grand prix and have intensified over the last few days. The
protesters claim the F1 event overshadows the ruling Bahraini Sunni
royal family’s many human rights abuses and repression of the
country’s Shiite population.
Despite criticism of the event being included on the Formula 1
calendar, Bahrain’s leaders have assured the race will go off
without a hitch.
"Police are out in force to beef up security measures at the
Bahrain International Circuit," Bahrain's public security
chief, Major General Tariq Hassan, said in a statement. He added
that they wanted to ensure a smooth race.
Amnesty International has called the event a “show” to try
and whitewash the human rights image of the country, "whilst
stepping up repression in order to ensure nothing disturbs their
public image.”
Saeed Shehabi, a leading figure in Bahrain’s Freedom Movement said
that in spite of regime attempts to exploit the race to legitimize
their rule, the event will be a public relations disaster.
“The people of Bahrain have made their point very clear,” he
told RT. “They do not want the race to be exploited by a
dictatorial regime to legitimize its existence.”
He stressed that the future looks especially bleak for the country
because the regime is not heeding the people’s calls for
reform.
“It reflects the reality that the regime is stupid. It is stupid
because it is arresting human rights activists,” Shehabi told
RT.
Bahrain has also being criticized for attempting to curb
international press coverage of the event. On Friday three
journalists were asked to leave Bahrain for exercising media
activities without obtaining a license from the competent
authorities. The journalists maintain they had had all of the
necessary documentation approved by the Bahraini authorities.
The US, usually reluctant to openly criticize Bahrain’s regime,
published a Department of State statement on the same days the
journalists were ejected. It slammed the ruling Sunni government
for “firing or attacking civilian and professional journalists;
and proposing legislation to limit speech in print and social
media.”
The US Fifth Naval Fleet headquarters are stationed in the island
nation.
One of the best-known cases of the Bahraini regime putting a gag on
human rights critics was the incarceration of activist Nabeel
Rajab, who openly criticized the regime.
Following an interview with Julian Assange on his RT show The World Tomorrow,
Rajab was detained. His wife said he was thrown into solitary
confinement almost immediately where he was subjected to inhumane
conditions.