Police and anti-government protesters were again involved in a running battle on the outskirts of Bahraini capital Manama just days ahead of this weekend's Formula One grand prix.
The latest skirmish took place in Salmabad, a village 10 kilometres from the centre of Manama and 18km north of the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) in Sakhir where the race is scheduled to return after a year's absence.
Last season's grand prix was scheduled as the season-opener, but was cancelled in the wake of the February 14 "Day of Rage" that resulted in the deaths of many demonstrators. Since then almost daily protests have occurred, consigned to the villages, but prompting speculation as to whether this year's race could go ahead until the FIA confirmed on Saturday that it had no security concerns and the race would proceed as planned.
What unfolded in Salmabad, on the third day of mourning for the death of local cameraman Ahmed Ismael Hassan Al Samadi, was no different to what has regularly taken place in recent months. A 2000-strong group that included men, women and children marched through the streets of Salmabad calling for the end of the reign of King Hamad, whose minority Sunni government rule over a majority Shia populace.
Come the conclusion, the men then armed themselves with Molotov cocktails, threw chunks of concrete on the road where they stood to form a make-shift roadblock and covered their mouths with bandanas or gas masks in readiness for the tear gas to come.
The Bahraini riot police, who had been waiting behind a nearby building, were ultimately goaded from their hiding place as the protesters, then numbering around 200, decided to march on them. Inevitably, the police responded with tear gas, dispersing the crowd who also threw stones and bricks, as well as setting alight rubbish bins and small piles of wood in the middle of roads.
On this occasion there appeared to be no casualties, with the gathering broken up after around 30 minutes. This, however, is only the start of a week-long run of protests, with one planned today at a village sited near the airport, Al Dair.
The suspicion is the protesters will now take their cause closer to F1 as the race weekend looms, starting with first practice on Friday.
Tomorrow, what has been described by a risk assessment group as "a vehicular rally" is to take place along two of the main highways that lead to the airport when most F1 personnel are due to arrive.Yesterday's arrival into Bahrain was peaceful enough, with GP staff on hand at the airport, including a cameraman and photographer to catch the arrival of their first F1 guests.
That included drivers – Williams' Bruno Senna and Sergio Perez from Sauber – along with two reserves in Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi and Jerome D'Ambrosio from Lotus.
There are plenty of posters and banners promoting the race, most notably on lamp posts leading away from the airport, one especially counting down the days to Friday, but given the potential for disruption, BIC chairman Zayed R Alzayani does not believe the future of the race is at stake.
"We've been in Formula One for seven years and we will be in it for much longer than that," Alzayani stated. "We wouldn't take a decision on a gamble. It's a calculated decision, we've weighed up our options and we are committed to the grand prix and to its success.
"I don't think anything drastic will happen. It's not Syria or Afghanistan. I don't see why anything should happen this year that hasn't happened in the previous years.
"The race will be positive to the country, positive to the economy which has suffered a lot in the last year and a half, and it will put things in perspective.
"A lot of the damage that has happened to Bahrain post the events of last year have been driven by perception, by people not necessarily writing what they see or hear.
"For us, we will be happy for the teams and the journalists and the media to come to Bahrain and see it and then write about it. Things are not 100%, but they are not quuite as bad as people make them out to be."
Douglas Alexander, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, called for the race to be cancelled, and said that proceeding with the event would "send the wrong signal".
Alexander said: "F1 bosses should call off the scheduled Bahrain Grand Prix. To go ahead at present risks sending the wrong signal at a time when the authorities in Bahrain should be focused on delivering real reform."
In London yesterday, two protesters climbed on to the roof of the Bahraini Embassy, displaying a banner and waving a flag.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article