Violent Clashes as Bahrain Court Says Emergency Rule was Legal
Bahraini police and anti-government protesters clashed in Shiite villages, leaving dozens of officers and several demonstrators injured, officials and the opposition said Wednesday, as a Bahraini court ruled that King Hamad acted lawfully when he declared a quasi state of emergency in March ahead of a crackdown on Shiite-led democracy protests.
The interior ministry accused protesters of "orchestrated attacks on police forces ... across the kingdom" that caused "significant injuries" to 41 officers, two of them requiring "critical care" at Bahrain's military hospital.
An opposition figure said protesters clashed with security forces in at least four Shiite villages, leaving several of them injured, including one seriously after being hit on the head with a tear gas canister.
Earlier, Public Security Chief Major General Tariq al-Hassan said that "vandals blocked roads" and threw petrol bombs during the clashes on Tuesday night.
Hassan, who was quoted by the official BNA news agency website, said security forces had made "several arrests" in Shiite villages, but gave no further details.
Former opposition MP and Wefaq member Matar Matar, who gave the civilian injury toll, said two protesters have been killed in recent months from tear gas injuries to the head.
"This indicates the existence of a (government) policy to intentionally injure protesters rather than just merely disperse them," Matar told Agence France Presse.
On December 31, al-Wefaq said 15-year-old Sayyed Hashem Saeed died after being hit in the head by a tear gas canister.
The government at the time released a statement saying they would investigate the teenager's death.
According to Matar, Tuesday night's clashes erupted after posts on social networks, including Facebook and Twitter, called on Bahrainis to go out and "confront" the security forces.
Al-Wefaq has posted videos and pictures of the unrest on its Facebook page, including images of police officers in the Shiite villages of Sitra and Bani Jamra, dressed in full riot gear and hurling objects, including metal rods, at a small crowd of young men.
In another image posted on the page, plumes of tear gas can be seen wafting through the night skies over the Shiite town of Bani Jamra.
On Monday, the United States said it was relocating embassy staff and their families to new neighborhoods in Bahrain's capital Manama as part of safety precautions amid anti-government unrest.
In a development related to the turbulence, a Bahraini court ruled on Wednesday that King Hamad acted lawfully when he declared a quasi state of emergency in March ahead of a crackdown on Shiite-led democracy protests.
The constitutional court "rejected the appeal into the constitutionality of the articles of the (state of) National Safety," the official BNA news agency reported.
National Safety is the first of two categories of exceptional measures that the king can resort to in times of emergency. The second is a full state of Martial Law.
An independent commission King Hamad tasked with probing the bloody clampdown on a month-long protest in mid-March had recommended that the constitutional court review the royal declaration of a three-month State of National Safety.
The commission found 35 people were killed in the crackdown on protests, including five security personnel and five detainees who were tortured to death in custody.
Hundreds were hurt during the unrest.
The defense teams of scores of the predominantly Shiite defendants who appeared before the National Safety Court had questioned the legality of the royal decree, but the court dismissed their challenge.
"This decree violated the laws of Bahrain. Many laws were suspended due to the decree," Matar Matar said.
"Even in the case of declaring emergency law, it is not permissible to have an absolute suspension of laws ... In reality, many laws and articles of the constitution were suspended, and public liberties that are protected by the constitution were violated," he said.
The former MP who resigned in February along with all Wefaq deputies in protest over the use of violence against demonstrators, criticized the latest ruling.
"We in the opposition, and Wefaq, believe after today's ruling that the whole judicial system is politicized," he said.
Tensions have remained high in Bahrain since the initial crackdown last spring, and sporadic violence has risen in recent weeks as the first anniversary approaches of the launch of the protests against the government.
Bahrain's Shiite community, although a majority in the kingdom ruled by the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty, has complained of marginalization.
Source: Agence France Presse
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