Huge Protests in Bahrain, Iran Denounce Union Plan

Local Editor

Tens of thousands of protesters chanting "Bahrain is not for sale" jammed a major highway Friday to denounce proposals for closer unity between the unrest-torn Gulf kingdom and neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The rally's large turnout - demonstrators stretched for more than five kilometers (three miles) along a main highway - underscored the strong backlash to efforts by Bahrain's rulers to integrate key policies such as defense and foreign affairs with their powerful Saudi neighbor.
Riyadh has aided Bahrain's embattled al-Khalifa monarchy with troops and money during the island nation's 15-month uprising.
Leaders for Bahrain's majority opposition call the unity proposal a sellout of the country's independence and an effort to give Saudi security forces a stronger hand in crackdowns in the strategic island kingdom, which is home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet.

Gulf Arab leaders earlier this week delayed any decisions on seeking greater unity among members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council. Some members, such as the United Arab Emirates, also have raised questions about whether closer GCC cooperation would give too much power to Saudi Arabia.
Crowds streaming along a highway outside Bahrain's capital Manama on Friday chanted slogans, such as "No unity, no unity," and "Bahrain is not for sale."
They also chanted slogans against their country's ruler, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa.

Meanwhile, top Bahraini cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassim has said that any proposed union of the two countries must be put to a referendum.
The people have the "right to oppose or approve this union," Qassim said.

"Why prevent the people from expressing their fear, their opposition and their legitimate peaceful resistance to a project that is being forced on them?" he asked.

In Tehran, huge protests decried the proposed unity pact. The protest leader, Sheikh Kazem Sedighi, said the proposed Saudi-Bahraini accord is an "ominous conspiracy" aimed at the "annexation" of Bahrain by Saudi Arabia, the main regional rival for Iran.
"Bahrain and regional nations, as well as the Muslim world and the Iranian nation will never accept the conspiracy," Sedighi said.
Iranian state television said similar rallies took place in other cities and towns in Iran, with thousands participating.


Source: News Agencies, Edited by moqawama.org