Bahrain: Two Americans wounded in a demonstration against Washington
Bahrain-USA, Politics, 5/28/2002

A row over renting a bridal dress for one of the American soldiers in Bahrain has been converted into a demonstration in which scores of angered Bahrainis called for dismantling the American military bases in their country. A situation which made the police interfere to disperse the row between the angered Bahraini people and the American soldiers who broke the glasses of the shop, according to eye- witnesses.

Observers considered this incident as an evidence on the escalation of hostility against the Americans in Bahrain which witnessed the most violent demonstrations against the US during the past months in which one Bahraini citizen was killed in confrontations with the police.

The row took place when an Ethiopian lady had disputed with the woman owner of a trade center in al-Badee street to the northern east of Manama, when the Ethiopian woman went out to the street and called on her American husband who was waiting for her with other American soldiers.

The Bahraini ministry of the interior said it has opened an investigation in the incident to define the side responsible for the row, while the American embassy and naval leadership announced their regret over the incidents. In two statements the American embassy and naval forces said: "we will continue to take necessary measures to ensure appropriate behaviors by our soldiers who are guests in Bahrain."

The Bahraini ministry of the interior said that two Ethiopian ladies and one American headed for a shop for renting dresses and attacked the employees in the shop because of a misunderstanding over a sum of 10 Bahraini Dirhams.

A source at the ministry said that a security patrol headed immediately to the area upon receiving the notification from the woman, the owner of the shop, noted that while the police was making preliminary investigations the sister of the shop owner and her husband arrived and took out of the car one of the American soldiers and the sister stopped near the car to prevent it from moving. While the driver of the car tried to crush the Bahraini lady, the scene provoked the anger of the Bahraini people in the street who gathered around the car and started beating its occupants and the result were wounds ( not dangerous) inflected on the American soldier and his Ethiopian wife.

The angry Bahraini people stayed for five hours and their number reached 500. They chanted slogans "death for America" and "no for the American military bases in Bahrain." A situation which necessitated the interference of the chairman of the Islamic national reconciliation society in Bahrain Sheik Ali Salman who promised the demonstrators that the "society will exert its effort in this case within the legal frames."

Previous Stories:
  Bahrain: replacing American Coca Cola from Iranian Zamzam Cola   (5/22/2002)
  Bahrain: increasing demands to expel the American ambassador   (4/15/2002)
  Demonstrations in Bahrain calling for close of US embassy   (4/8/2002)

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