Royal News Blog

Note: This article is from the Guardian.

This article titled “Bahrain Grand Prix is ‘force for good’, prince says, as cancellation calls grow” was written by Ian Black, Middle East editor, for The Guardian on Friday 20th April 2012 19.03 UTC

Bahrain’s showcase grand prix came under heavy pressure on Friday as tens of thousands of anti-government protesters confronted police during the final preparations for Sunday’s race and calls grew for it to be cancelled.

Bahrain’s crown prince, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, called the event “a force for good” and warned that cancelling it would “empower extremists.” Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 chief executive, said it was not “in his power” to call it off. “It’s nothing to do with us,” he insisted.

But others said the high-profile sporting fixture should be stopped.

In Britain, Labour leader Ed Miliband urged the UK government to speak out. “Given the violence we have seen in Bahrain and given the human rights abuses, I don’t believe the grand prix should go ahead,” he said. I hope the government will make its view clear and say the same.”

The prime minister, David Cameron, responded: “Peaceful protest should be allowed to go ahead. But Bahrain is not Syria. There is a process of reform under way and this government backs that reform.” The problem, Bahraini and foreign critics argue, is that key reforms recommended by a high-powered commission appointed by King Hamad Al Khalifa have not been implemented.

Bahrain’s claim to be a bastion of freedom in the Gulf was further tarnished when non-sports journalists were turned back at the airport or denied visas. Prince Salman said that was not his decision, hinting at rifts with hardliners including his uncle, who has been prime minister since independence from Britain in 1971.

Last year’s Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled in the wake of the unprecedented protests that followed the Pearl Revolution, the Sunni-led monarchy’s short-lived experience of the Arab spring, at an estimated cost of 0m-0m (£500m). Around 50 people have been killed in unrest since then.

Heavy security was in place, with troops deployed around the Bahrain International Circuit, 25 miles from Manama and across the capital as the three-day event started. Al-Wefaq, the leading Shia opposition group, accused police of using excessive force, including birdshot rounds and teargas, to break up peaceful protests as well as mounting night police raids to arrest suspected protesters.

Sheikh Isa Qassim, the country’s leading Shia cleric, condemned the security crackdown, saying in a Friday sermon that it was “as if we are entering a war”.

In the hardest-hit villages such as Sitra, near the country’s oil refinery, residents barricaded the streets and deployed guards to raise the alarm in case of police raids. “Most of the people I know, like me, don’t sleep at home,” said one local activist.

Bahrain’s Youth Centre for Human Rights reported that 15 protesters were injured overnight in clashes with riot police who used pellet shot guns, teargas and stun grenades against protesters.

Pictures posted on the internet showed large crowds of demonstrators on Friday surrounded by clouds of teargas at a roundabout on Budaiya highway leading out of Manama. “We demand justice, equality, freedom, prohibition of state-run racial/sectarian discrimination, improving living standards, combatting corruption and implementing real reform,” read one protest banner. The protesters chanted slogans demanding democracy and the overthrow of King Hamad.

The government tried to put a positive spin on the race, releasing a poll conducted for the Bahrain Economic Development Board which found 77% support for the grand prix. It said: “Appropriate and responsible measures are being taken to maintain security throughout the event.” An official also complained of “unbalanced coverage”.

But the race is providing a golden opportunity for the opposition to advertise its grievances at a moment of rare and intense international attention. Fears are growing for the fate of Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a jailed activist, who has been on hunger strike for more than two months and is said to be close to death.

The banned Bahrain Freedom Movement issued a statement in London. “The race between human values and evil is intensifying as the F1 prepares for its most controversial race in what has now become widely known as ‘Bloody Bahrain’,” it said. “The anger of the people has never been greater as scores of activists are swiftly rounded up, tortured and locked up by the forces of John Timoney (a former US police chief) and John Yates (the former Met police chief). Their aim is to forestall serious protests, disturbances or any kind of revolutionary act. In the past week more than 70 people have been arrested, tortured and detained for indefinite periods. The people, however, have become more defiant.”

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010

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Note: This article is from the Guardian.

This article titled “Bahrain unrest fuels calls for grand prix to be cancelled” was written by Luke Harding and agencies, for The Guardian on Friday 6th April 2012 17.19 UTC

Pressure is growing for motorsport authorities to cancel this month’s Formula One race in Bahrain, amid continuing violence on the streets and a hunger strike by a jailed activist.

Protesters, human rights groups and MPs have called for the race, due on April 22, to be called off. They say it is unacceptable to go ahead with the grand prix while riot police are using teargas and live bullets against demonstrators, one of whom was shot dead last week.

The country’s Sunni leadership is determined to hold the event. It argues that the revolt by the kingdom’s Shia majority, – which began nearly 14 months ago and caused last year’s grand prix to be abandoned, has mostly fizzled out.

In the run-up to the race, opposition supporters have plastered posters on walls and lambasted Formula One drivers via social media. “We don’t want Formula One in our country,” an activist, Ali Mohammed, told Associated Press during a recent rally in the capital, Manama. “They are killing us every day with teargas. They have no respect for human rights or democracy. Why would we keep silent? No one will enjoy the F1 in Bahrain with cries for freedom from the inside and outside of the race.”

On Friday the British MP Richard Burden echoed a call by the former world champion Damon Hill for Formula One’s governing body, the FIA, to think again. Burden acknowledged that some among the country’s rulers were seeking genuine reform. “It is also true that not all the problems in Bahrain come from one side,” he said.

But he pointed out that 45 people had been killed in Bahrain since February 2011, with police recently teargassing hundreds of protesters at a cemetery. “Bahrain is nothing like as bad as the terrible situation in Syria,” he said. “And F1 teams do race in other countries with unenviable human rights records. But that does not mean it is right for F1 to collude in presenting to the outside world a cocooned picture of normality at the Bahrain international circuit, when what is likely to be going on just few miles outside the circuit could be very different indeed. “

Bahrain’s Shia majority is demanding rights and opportunities equal to those of the Sunni minority that rules Bahrain. Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa owns the rights to the grand prix and serves as commander of the armed forces. Although the F1 race is the island’s premier international event, many Bahrainis see it as a regime vanity project.

Last year’s race was cancelled after the authorities imposed martial law and launched a punishing crackdown on dissent. Hundreds have been tried on anti-state charges in a special security court, including more than 100 athletes, coaches and sports officials. Dozens have been sentenced to prison terms, including a prominent human rights activist who is serving a life sentence for his role in the uprising.

The activist Abdulhadi al-Khawaja has been on hunger strike for more than 50 days. Opposition supporters rally every day for his release, often carrying his picture along with posters calling for the cancellation of the F1 race. Human rights organisations have warned Bahraini authorities that al-Khawaja may die and appealed to those involved in the race to stay away.

“It is impossible to imagine that the Bahrain Grand Prix will go ahead if Abdulhadi al-Khawaja dies on hunger strike in prison,” said Mary Lawlor, the executive director of an Ireland-based rights organisation, Front Line Defenders. “The Bahraini authorities clearly want to present an image of business as usual but their seeming indifference to the plight of Abdulhadi risks tragic consequences.”

In February, an opposition group that has been the driving force of the year-long uprising warned the F1 boss, Bernie Ecclestone, against staging the Bahrain race “at a time when children are being killed in the streets”. The grand prix’s return to the Gulf kingdom would “imprint it with the image of death and human rights violations”, the group said.

Race organisers, however, remain committed to staging the grand prix, which draws a worldwide TV audience of around 100 million in 187 countries. The annual race has been Bahrain’s most profitable international event since 2004, when it became the first Arab country to stage a grand prix.

The F1 world champions Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher have backed the decision to go ahead with the Bahrain GP. Ecclestone has also dismissed opposition to the race , describing it as “all nonsense” after lunching with Bahrain international circuit executives in London last week. “Of course the race is going to happen,” he said. “No worries at all.”

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