Feb. 19: Bahraini troops and armoured vehicles on Saturday left a Manama square that had been a base for anti-government protesters, hours after Opposition groups rejected a royal dialogue call unless the military stood down.
A handful of demonstrators tried to move back into their former stronghold in Pearl Square after the Army pullout, but the police firing teargas beat them back.
One man raced to the centre of the traffic circle, fell to his knees to kiss the yellowed grass and began praying as others celebrated. Moments later, 10 police cars pulled up and policemen beat up one protester as others fled.
Troops in tanks took over the traffic circle on Thursday after riot police attacked protesters who had camped out there, killing four people and wounding 231.
Bahrain’s crown prince announced that all troops had been ordered off the streets and that the police would maintain order.
The main Shia bloc and other Opposition groups earlier rejected a royal call for dialogue to end the unrest unless troops were withdrawn. “Nobody is willing to sit with officials if the military is killing people,” Ibrahim Mattar, a member of the Shia Wefaq bloc which quit Parliament on Thursday, said.
“We don’t feel there is a serious will for dialogue because the military is in the streets and people are not allowed to protest,” he added. Turmoil has rocked Bahrain since demonstrators, mostly from the Shia majority, took to the streets to demand more say in the Gulf Arab island.
Shias feel cut out of decision-making and complain of discrimination in access to state jobs and housing. King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa offered a national dialogue with all parties on Friday to try to end the turmoil in which six people have been killed and hundreds wounded since Monday.