Tweet
ARMED VIGILANTES BLOCKS BAHRAINI VILLAGES, IRAN CONDEMNS MILITARY INTERVENTION
PanARMENIAN.Net
March 15, 2011 - 15:01 AMT 11:01 GMT
Armed vigilantes roamed Manama's streets and blocked Bahraini villages
Tuesday, March 15, as Iran condemned a military intervention by Gulf
troops to help subdue unrest in the Shiite-majority, Sunni-ruled
kingdom.
The financial district of Manama was deserted, shops and malls were
shuttered and Sunni and Shiite vigilantes armed with metal pipes
and clubs were seen in the streets of the capital after hundreds of
Saudi-led armored troops rolled into Bahrain from Saudi Arabia.
Witnesses said vigilante groups also blocked access to a number of
villages across the kingdom. Women have been told to leave central
Manama and activists were distributing surgical masks and eye
protectors to defend against tear gas.
There were rumors of a march against the Saudi embassy near the
financial district later the day.
The troops arrived in Bahrain on March 14 to help the Manama government
deal with pro-democracy protests which have shaken the strategic Gulf
kingdom for the past month. Saudi Arabia's staunchly Sunni government
said it had responded to a call for help from its neighbor under a
mutual defense pact of the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
But Iran's Foreign Ministry described the intervention as unacceptable
and said it would complicate the already volatile situation.
"The presence of foreign forces cannot be acceptable and will make
the situation more complicated and difficult," Ministry spokesman
Ramin Mehmanparast said, The Associated Press reported.
From: A. Papazian
PanARMENIAN.Net
March 15, 2011 - 15:01 AMT 11:01 GMT
Armed vigilantes roamed Manama's streets and blocked Bahraini villages
Tuesday, March 15, as Iran condemned a military intervention by Gulf
troops to help subdue unrest in the Shiite-majority, Sunni-ruled
kingdom.
The financial district of Manama was deserted, shops and malls were
shuttered and Sunni and Shiite vigilantes armed with metal pipes
and clubs were seen in the streets of the capital after hundreds of
Saudi-led armored troops rolled into Bahrain from Saudi Arabia.
Witnesses said vigilante groups also blocked access to a number of
villages across the kingdom. Women have been told to leave central
Manama and activists were distributing surgical masks and eye
protectors to defend against tear gas.
There were rumors of a march against the Saudi embassy near the
financial district later the day.
The troops arrived in Bahrain on March 14 to help the Manama government
deal with pro-democracy protests which have shaken the strategic Gulf
kingdom for the past month. Saudi Arabia's staunchly Sunni government
said it had responded to a call for help from its neighbor under a
mutual defense pact of the six-country Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
But Iran's Foreign Ministry described the intervention as unacceptable
and said it would complicate the already volatile situation.
"The presence of foreign forces cannot be acceptable and will make
the situation more complicated and difficult," Ministry spokesman
Ramin Mehmanparast said, The Associated Press reported.
From: A. Papazian