02/06/2011
NEWS STORY
On the eve of the second deadline for the Bahrain GP, and despite the lifting of martial law, the unrest continues.
Al Jazeera reports that though martial law was lifted yesterday, security forces have attacked protestors in a number of villages close to the capital, Manama.
Reacting to a call on Facebook, anti-government protestors took to the streets in a number of villages around Manama, including Diraz, Bani Jamrah and Karzakan.
According to one activist there was a heavy security presence in Bani Jamrah where around thirty women gathered in front of his house to join the protest - they were subsequently moved on by the security forces who used batons and tear gas to disperse them.
"With the end of the emergency situation, the security would not be here but they still are," Ali Zirazdi, a witness to a similar gathering in Diraz, told Al Jazeera. "The security presence is even stronger and their approach now is as soon as they hear of any protest in advance, they come down to stop it from happening."
Meanwhile, on the eve of the World Motor sport council meeting which will decide the fate of the 2011 event, Nabeel Rajab, vice-president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera that the government was not sincere in its lifting of martial law.
"I think we are going to see more protests in the coming days. The lifting of the state of emergency it was more to attract the Formula One... which was going to act as an indicator if Bahrain has come to normal or not," he said. "The Bahraini government is desperately trying to send out the message that everything is back to normal, but it is not. Today Bahrainis are gathered again, protesting on the streets of all the villages, more than 40 different protests all around Bahrain... all of them were attacked from the moment they started and many people were injured by live ammunition, rubber bullets or tear gas."