24th May 2013

BAHRAIN MEDIA ROUNDUP

Bahraini protesters clash with police over raid on cleric's home
Hundreds of Bahraini Shi'ite Muslims angered by a raid last week on a top cleric's home clashed with police on Friday, while thousands more gathered in the cleric's village for a peaceful sit-in against their Sunni-led government. The raid by security forces on the home of Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassim on May 17 infuriated the opposition and drew condemnation from neighbouring Shi'ite power Iran. Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, has been in turmoil since mass prodemocracy protests erupted in 2011 and has become a hot spot in a region-wide tussle for inuence betweenIran and Sunni Arab states such as Saudi Arabia. Read More housing.In 2011 this unrest broke out into large nonviolent protests as part of the Arab Spring. Following abrutaland largely ignoredcrackdown on protests, however,the housing crisis has onlygottenworse. Around 54,000 requestsfor government housing were still pending action as of March 2013, up from 46,000 in March 2011.That's a lot of angry people waiting to rise up again against the U.S.friendly regime. Read More Last week's raid provoked anger in the Shia Muslim community.

Raid on Bahrain cleric's home draws thousands to sit-in

Tens of thousands of Bahrainis have participated in a sit-in in protest at a raid on a senior Shia cleric's home. The sit-in was called by alWefaq, Bahrain's largest opposition political society, after a late night raid on the home of Sheikh Isa Qassim.

Sheikh Qassim is the most senior Shia cleric in the Gulf state. Bahrain has a majority Shia population but the ruling royal family is Sunni Muslim. Shia have long complained of discrimination and formed the largest group when thousands of prodemocracy protesters took over a prominent roundabout in the capital Manama in February 2011. Read More

New Satellite Pictures Show A Revolution Waiting To Happen In Bahrain

Bahrain's poor and overcrowded Shiite majority learned what a raw deal they were getting in 2006, when they saw satellite images of lavish palaces and empty land owned by the Sunni monarchy. The images, which circulatedin PDF form after the government blocked Google Earth, spurred growing unrest about the lack of affordable

Not ours, says Iran of drone found off Bahrain

It cited an unnamed foreign ministry source as denying Bahrain's assertion that the downed aircraft was Iranian. "Instead of making