World condemns Saudi crackdown in Bahrain

May 1, 2011 - 0:0

TEHRAN - Crowds across the world have taken to the streets to condemn the brutal crackdown on the people of Bahrain by local forces backed by Saudi troops.

In Egypt, dozens of people gathered outside a government office in Cairo to denounce the Al Saud ruling family and their military intervention in Bahrain.
Hundreds of people, including university students, gathered outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in New Delhi. They expressed solidarity with the uprising, criticized the brutal invasion by Saudi troops, and demanded that the Saudi troops stop assaulting the Bahrainis, Press TV reported.
“We hail the people's upsurge against U.S.-Saudi puppet dictatorships in Bahrain. We condemn such type of regimes,” said one of the protesters.
Protests were also held in the Indian cities of Amroha, Nogawan, Lucknow, and Mumbai.
In Britain, dozens of activists gathered in front of Buckingham Palace in support of the revolution in Bahrain. The protesters chanted slogans against the ruling families of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and demanded an end to what they called the Saudi occupation of Bahrain.
In addition, hundreds of men, women, and children staged a rally in support of the Bahraini people in Lahore on Friday. The protesters chanted slogans against the Saudi Arabian, Bahraini, the U.S., and the Pakistani governments.
Members of the Imamia Students Organization, the Majlis-e-Wahdat Muslemeen, and the Madaris-e-Dinia, who arranged the rally, protested against the massacres being committed in Bahrain by local forces backed by foreign countries, Pakistan’s Daily Times reported.
The protesters marched from the Lahore Press Club to the Punjab Assembly. The speakers criticized the recruitment of retired Pakistani army soldiers by certain local organizations for the Bahraini security services.
The protesters censured the Saudi government, saying, “Saudi Arabia should send its forces to Occupied Palestine instead of Bahrain.”
The United States and Israel are seeking to create a rift between Muslims, but it is the responsibility of Islamic countries’ governments to take unified action in order to maintain Islamic unity, they stated.
The demonstrators also condemned the killings of Shia Muslims in the Parachinar region of Pakistan.
According to Pakistan Today, a member of the Imamia Students Organization stated that the Taliban had abducted 45 Shia men since March 25, and eight of them were killed while thirty-seven are still being held by the Taliban. “We have sacrificed 2,200 of our people in Parachinar. Therefore, we demand from the Pakistani government a Waziristan-like operation (to stop the killings) in Parachinar as early as possible,” he added.
Meanwhile, the German government criticized Bahrain's imposition of the death penalty on several people and urged Bahrain's rulers to rescind the “draconian punishment.”
“This draconian punishment impedes the process of rapprochement and reconciliation in Bahrain,” German Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said on Friday.
Thousands of Bahraini people also gathered before a revered cleric in Manama and denounced the death sentences given to four protesters arrested for their involvement in anti-government rallies.
They condemned the verdict handed down by a military court a day earlier to four men accused of killing two policemen during last month's protests.
The European Union and the United States have failed to address the appalling repression of the peaceful pro-democracy movement in Bahrain and have been mum about the Saudi intervention.
The anti-government demonstrations began in February, with the protesters demanding greater political liberties, a constitutional monarchy, and an end to sectarian discrimination. Some have even called for the abolition of the monarchy.
Photo: Pakistanis march during a protest in Lahore against the Saudi Arabianand Bahraini governments on April 29, 2011. (Getty Images)