2011 Intense violence in middle East 02/2011

1. Intense violence in middle East Bahrain, Yemen, Libya

2. REVOLT IN BAHRAIN - Bahrain at a Glance Bahrain is home to 1.3 million people and located off the coast of Saudi Arabia. It has been ruled by the Sunni Muslim Al-Khalifa family for more than 200 years. Bahrain receives military aid from the US, provides logistical support for US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet. Its oil-driven economy has created concentrated wealth, particularly in Bahrain's liberal, cosmopolitan capital city of Manama. Yet the glitz and glamour of Manama’s skyscrapers and shopping malls mask the country's grinding poverty and deep sectarian divides. The nation's residential communities are starkly segregated— Sunni Muslims, westerners, Shiite Muslims, and South Asian migrant workers (who are not citizens but constitute almost half of Bahrain’s population) generally live in separate neighborhoods. The impoverished villages and slums surrounding Manama almost exclusively house Shiites. Shiites are culturally and ethnically distinct from Sunnis, and hold different interpretations of their Islamic faith. The majority—around 70 percent—of Bahrain's citizens are Shiites. Although some sympathetic, progressive Sunni Muslims are participating in the current uprisings, the vast majority of protesters are Shiites. (A small fraction, including Rajab, are of mixed Sunni and Shiite background.) What sparked Bahrain’s uprisings? The Feb. 14 "day of rage" launched via Facebook by Bahraini youth was, of course, inspired by the successful uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. However, anger among Shiites in Bahrain had been bubbling for decades. For the past several years, Shiite youth in outlying villages have organized small scale protest riots that garnered little media attention. In the early 2000s, some Shiite exiles returned to Bahrain after a new king instituted democratic reforms, including elections for a parliamentary advisory council. A few years later, however, the government resumed its aggressive censorship, intimidation, and torture of regime critics, most of whom are Shiite. One Sunni critic, women’s rights activist Ghada Jamsheer, was put under media blackout by the Bahraini government after blasting the regime’s Sharia'a courts in the Arab media. Time Magazine honored her as one of four "heroes of freedom" in the Arab world. In the later half of 2010, the Bahraini government escalated is suppression of civil society. Authorities reportedly detained about 250 people, used torture to extract "terrorism" confessions, and closed numerous websites, publications, and non-profits that had criticized the government—including Rajab’s Bahrain Center for Human Rights. "All the time there are articles describing me as a traitor or a terrorist," says Rajab. "For a human rights activist here, this is the environment." Faraz Sanei, a Bahrain specialist for Human Rights Watch, says that Rajab's experience is part of a troubling trend. "There are very few independent human rights organizations in Bahrain today," he said. "Most are essentially pro-government and are very close to the government." What do demonstrators want? Earlier this week, Bahrain's protesters were clamoring for equal political and legal rights, as well as protections against job discrimination. However, following the government’s lethal suppression, the protesters have hardened their demands. "Now they want to change the whole regime, instead of having reforms," says Rajab. "I don’t know how we can accept a leader who killed his own people." King Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa

3. BAHRAIN An anti-government protesters display their hands painted with the phrase Go out! during a demonstration to the presidential palace in Sanaa February 13, 2011. Anti-government protesters clashed with police trying to prevent them from marching towards Yemen's presidential palace in the capital on Sunday, witnesses said. REUTERS/Khaled

4. Riot police move to disperse a protest in a Shi'ite village near Manama February 14, 2011. Bahraini police fired teargas and rubber bullets to break up protests on Monday in Shi'ite villages that ring the capital Manama, dampening a Day of Rage stimulated by popular upheaval in Egypt and Tunisia. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

5. Women mourn for a protester killed during a protest on Monday, as people gather at a Shi'ite village cemetery in Sanabis, west of Bahraini capital Manama. (REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed)

6. Riot police watch over anti-government protesters Monday, Feb. 14, 2011, in Duraz, Bahrain, outside the capital of Manama, shortly before dispersing them with tear gas. Demonstrations broke out nationwide in response to calls on social media sites for major anti-government protests. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

7. Bahraini protesters run for cover from tear gas fired by police to disperse them in the village of Sanabis near Manama on February 14, 2011 during a demonstration called for on Facebook and inspired by similar initiatives which led to the ouster of the regimes in Tunisia and Egypt. (AFP/Getty Images)

8. Protesters sit down after riot police released tear gas to disperse a protest in the Shi'ite village Sanabis near Manama February 14, 2011. Bahraini police fired teargas and rubber bullets to break up protests on Monday in Shi'ite villages that ring the capital Manama, dampening a Day of Rage stimulated by popular upheaval in Egypt and Tunisia. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

9. The blood of a wounded Bahrain citizen is seen during clashes with policemen in Manama February 14, 2011. Small-scale clashes erupted in two Bahraini villages as security forces tightened their grip on Shi'ite communities for Monday's Day of Rage protests inspired by upheaval in Egypt and Tunisia. Helicopters circled over the capital Manama, where protesters were expected to gather in the afternoon, and police cars stepped up their presence in Shi'ite villages, breaking up one protest with teargas and rubber bullets. At least 14 people were injured in clashes overnight and on Monday. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

10. A policeman confronts a protester in the Shi'ite village Sanabis near Manama February 14, 2011. Bahraini police fired teargas and rubber bullets to break up protests on Monday in Shi'ite villages that ring the capital Manama, dampening a Day of Rage stimulated by popular upheaval in Egypt and Tunisia. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

11. Bahrainis hold up shoes as thousands of anti-government protesters gather at Bahrain's Pearl roundabout in the capital Manama, on February 15, 2011, following the deaths of two protesters in clashes with Bahraini police and sparking angry calls from young cyber-activists for regime change and a walkout of parliament by Bahrain's main Shiite opposition bloc. (ADAM JAN/AFP/Getty Images)

12. Demonstrators gather around the Pearl Monument centered on a main square in Manama, Bahrain, Tuesday Feb. 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

13. Thousands of protesters gather at Pearl Roundabout in the heart of the Bahraini capital Manama February 15, 2011. Thousands of Shi'ite protesters marched into the capital of Bahrain on Tuesday after a man was killed in clashes between police and mourners at a funeral for a demonstrator shot dead at an earlier anti-government rally. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

14. Thousands of protesters gather at Pearl Roundabout in the heart of the Bahraini capital Manama, February 15, 2011. Thousands of Shi'ite protesters marched into the capital of Bahrain on Tuesday after a man was killed in clashes between police and mourners at a funeral for a demonstrator shot dead at an earlier anti-government rally. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

15. Family members of the protester, who was killed this morning during police clashes, mourn at a hospital after receiving news of his death in the Bahraini capital of Manama, February 15, 2011. Thousands of Shi'ite protesters marched into the capital on Tuesday after a man was killed in clashes between police and mourners at a funeral for a demonstrator shot dead at an earlier anti-government rally. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

16. Protesters with a banner walk in between traffic at the Pearl Roundabout in the Bahraini capital Manama, February 15, 2011. Thousands of Shi'ite protesters marched into the capital on Tuesday after a man was killed in clashes between police and mourners at a funeral for a demonstrator shot dead at an earlier anti-government rally. The banner reads, The people want to topple the regime. The peaceful people of Bahrain. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

17. People carry the body of a protester killed during a protest on Monday, as they gather at a Shi'ite village cemetery in Sanabis, west of Bahraini capital Manama, February 15, 2011. Thousands of Shi'ite protesters marched into the capital on Tuesday after a man was killed in clashes between police and mourners at a funeral for a demonstrator shot dead at an earlier anti-government rally. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

18. Protesters set up tents at the Pearl Roundabout, a famous landmark of Bahrain, in the heart of its capital Manama February 15, 2011. Shi'ite protesters camped out in Bahrain's capital on Tuesday after a day of protests in which a man was shot dead in clashes with police at a funeral for a demonstrator shot the day before. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

19. Protesters sit near a traditional Arabic shisha pipe as they camp out at the Pearl Roundabout, a famous landmark of Bahrain, in the heart of its capital Manama February 15, 2011. Shi'ite protesters camped out in Bahrain's capital on Tuesday after a day of protests in which a man was shot dead in clashes with police at a funeral for a demonstrator shot the day before. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

20. In this image from video, a large number of armored personnel carriers roll towards Pearl Square occupied by anti-government protesters Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2011. Riot police firing tear gas and wielding clubs stormed a landmark square occupied by anti-government protesters before dawn Thursday, driving out demonstrators and destroying a makeshift encampment that had become the hub for demands to bring sweeping political changes to the kingdom. (AP Photo/Tony Mitchell)

21. Family members and supporters of Fadel al-Matrook, a protester who was killed on Tuesday morning during police clashes, transport his coffin from the mortuary for a funeral in Manama February 16, 2011. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

22. Sunni Bahrainis march and shout pro-government slogans during a rally in Riffa, a Sunni area south of the Bahraini capital of Manama, February 16, 2011. In the Sunni town of Riffa, home to many members of the ruling family, at least 1,000 pro-government demonstrators waved flags and held pictures of King Hamad in a show of support on Wednesday. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

23. Bahraini anti-government protesters take a rest from demonstrations in central Manama, February 16, 2011. Protesters in Bahrain, emboldened by revolts that have toppled Arab rulers in Tunisia and Egypt, poured into the centre of the capital on Wednesday to mourn a demonstrator killed in clashes with security forces. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

24. A Bahraini woman holds a picture of Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Isa al-Khalifa as she shouts pro-government slogans during a pro-government rally in Riffa, a Sunni area south of the Bahraini capital of Manama, February 16, 2011. In the Sunni town of Riffa, home to many members of the ruling family, at least 1,000 pro-government demonstrators waved flags and held pictures of King Hamad in a show of support on Wednesday. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

25. Hundreds of Bahraini protesters shout slogans as the attend the funeral of Shiite Fadel Salman Matrouk (pictures), who was shot dead in front of a hospital a day earlier where mourners gathered for the funeral of another comrade, in Manama on February 16, 2011 as Shiite opposition called for measures to establish a real constitutional monarchy in Bahrain. AFP/ Getty Images / Adam Jan

26. A Bahraini anti-government protester waves his national flag during a protest calling for regime change at Pearl Square in Manama on February 16, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Joseph Eid

27. Rocks spell out messages from Bahraini anti-government protesters near the Pearl roundabout Wednesday evening, Feb. 16, 2011, in Manama, Bahrain. The Arabic reads "Down with the gangster government" and "No, oh Khalifa". (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

28. Bahraini anti-government protester drinks tea in a tent at the Pearl roundabout in Manama, Bahrain, Wednesday Feb. 16, 2011. Protesters demanding sweeping political reforms from Bahrain's rulers held their ground Wednesday in an Egypt-style occupation of the capital's landmark square, staging a third day of demonstrations that have brought unprecedented pressures in one of Washington's most strategic allies in the Gulf. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

29. Bahraini anti-government protesters take part in a demonstration calling for a regime change at Pearl Square in Manama on February 16, 2011. (JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images)

30. A Bahraini boy with his face painted in the colors of his national flag flashes the victory sign as he takes part in a demonstration calling for a regime change at Pearl Square in Manama on February 16, 2011. (JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images)

31. Bahraini anti-government protesters pray together at the Pearl roundabout Wednesday evening, Feb. 16, 2011, in Manama, Bahrain. AP / Hasan Jamali

32. Bahraini anti-government protesters take part in a demonstration calling for a regime change at Pearl Square in Manama on February 16, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Joseph Eid

33. Bahraini anti-government protesters gather at Pearl Square in Manama for a demonstration calling for a regime change on February 16, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Joseph Eid

34. Bahraini anti-government protesters prepare for a second night camping out at the Pearl roundabout Wednesday evening, Feb. 16, 2011, in Manama, Bahrain. AP / Hasan Jamali

35. A general view shows Pearl Square in Manama on February 17, 2011 after riot police stormed through the square firing rubber bullets and tear gas in a harsh crackdown on anti-regime protesters that left four dead, witnesses and opposition said. AFP/ Getty Images / Joseph Eid

36. ahraini army tanks take position near Pearl Square in Manama on February 17, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Joseph Eid

37. Military tanks are seen on the road to the Pearl Roundabout in Manama February 17, 2011. Police in the Gulf island kingdom of Bahrain attacked demonstrators camped out in the capital on Thursday, killing three, in a move to stifle pro-democracy protests inspired by similar movements across the Middle East. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

38. Women demonstrators shout anti-goverment slogans after riot police drove demonstrators from a main square in Manama, Bahrain, early Thursday morning, Feb. 17, 2011. AP / Hassan Ammar

39. An injured protester is rushed to the operation theatre in a hospital in Manama February 17, 2011. More than 50 armoured vehicles were seen travelling towards Pearl Square in central Manama on Thursday, shortly after Bahrain police cleared hundreds of protesters from the square in the early hours. At least two protesters were killed when police fired teargas and rubber bullets when clearing the square. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

40. Tents at the Pearl Roundabout are cleared of protesters, in Manama February 17, 2011. Thousands of overwhelmingly Shi'ite protesters took to the streets this week demanding more say in the Gulf Arab island kingdom where a family of Sunni Muslims rules over a population that mostly belongs to the Shi'ite sect. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed

41. A wounded Shiite Bahraini demonstrator arrives at a hospital in Manama after being injured by riot police on February 17, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Joseph Eid

42. A Bahraini anti-government demonstrator lies injured on a stretcher as Bahraini anti-government demonstrators take him to hospital in Manama, Bahrain, early Thursday morning, Feb. 17, 2011. AP / Hassan Ammar

43. A surgeon leads a protest at a hospital after at least five people died and hundreds were left injured when police stormed an anti-government protester camp in the capital's Pearl Square on February 17, 2011 in Manama, Bahrain. Getty Images / John Moore

44. Protesters' tents are seen in Manama's Pearl Square on February 17, 2011. Two people were killed overnight as Bahrain's security forces moved in to clear protesters camped out in a central Manama square, relatives of the dead said. AFP/ Getty Images / Joseph Eid

45. Protesters shouts slogans in Manama's Pearl Square on February 17, 2011. AFP/ Getty Images / Joseph Eid

46. Bahraini anti-government demonstrators watch a soccer game between Barcelona and Arsenal on a TV projector while camping out in protest at the Pearl roundabout in Manama, Bahrain, early Thursday morning, Feb. 17, 2011. AP / Hassan Ammar

47. Tony Mitchell / AP - In this image from video riot police firing tear gas and wielding clubs storm an anti-government protesters' camp in Pearl Square, Manama before dawn on Feb. 17.

48. Anti-government demonstrators run away after being attacked by Bahrani riot policemen at the Pearl roundabout, in Manama, Bahrain, early Thursday morning, Feb. 17, 2011. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

49. Police officers remove protesters' tents in Manama's Pearl Square on February 17, 2011. (JOSEPH EID/AFP/Getty Images)

50. Bahraini anti-government demonstrators take an injured protester to a hospital in Manama, Bahrain, early Thursday morning, Feb. 17, 2011. Armed patrols prowled neighborhoods and tanks appeared in the streets for the first time Thursday after riot police with tear gas and clubs drove protesters from a main square where they had demanded sweeping political change in this tiny kingdom. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)