Pat Dollard

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MANAMA, Bahrain – The swelling protests against Bahrain’s rulers gained momentum Wednesday with huge crowds calling for a sweeping political overhaul and the kingdom’s stunned leaders appearing to shift tactics after attempts to crush the uprising stoked rage on the streets and sharp criticism from Western allies.

The widening challenges to the Arab world’s political order — emboldened by the downfall of old-guard regimes in Tunisia and Egypt — also flared in Libya for the first time, with riot police battling protesters marching against the 42-year rule of Moammar Gadhafi.

In Yemen, the embattled president flooded the ancient capital of Sanaa with security forces to try to stamp out demonstrations that began nearly a week ago. They turned deadly Wednesday in the southern port of Aden, with two people killed in clashes with police.

“It’s clear now that no Arab leader can truly feel comfortable,” said Ali Fakhro, a political analyst and commentator in Bahrain. “Those days have been swept away.”

It’s also taken a big swipe at Western policy assumptions.

Tiny Bahrain has an outsized importance for Washington as home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, a counterweight to Iran’s military expansion in the Gulf. Yemen is a strategic battleground against Islamic militants inspired by al-Qaida.

Even Gadhafi — once an arch-foe of the West — has been gradually rebuilding international ties and remains a mercurial, but well examined, factor in Mideast affairs.

In many ways, Bahrain is mirroring Egypt’s uprising on a smaller scale and with malls and conference centers as the backdrop instead of the faded glory of Cairo’s Tahrir Square.
Protesters have turned a landmark square in the capital of Manama into their base camp, which was swollen with tens of thousands of people by nightfall Wednesday. Their chants literally reverberated off the buildings and bridges. They sang the Egyptian national anthem. Their next important move takes a page directly from the Egypt unrest: calling for a major march after Friday prayers to re-energize its followers.

The ruling Sunni dynasty — long accused of trampling the aspirations of Bahrain’s Shiite majority — has retrenched after unleashing security forces in street clashes that left at least two dead since Monday. Riot squads have hung back as the crowds took control of Pearl Square, dominated by a 300-foot (90-feet) monument to Bahrain’s history as a pearl diving center.

An emergency parliament meeting was called for Thursday, but it may only serve to show the country’s divisions and reinforce its image as the most politically volatile in the Gulf.

The main Shiite opposition bloc, with 18 of the 40 seats, has said it will not return to the chamber until the protest demands are met.

It began Monday as a cry for the country’s Sunni monarchy to loosen its grip, including hand-picking most top government posts, and open more opportunities for the country’s Shiites, who have long complained of being blocked from decision-making roles or key posts in the military.

But the uprising’s demands have steadily grown bolder. Many protesters are calling for the government to provide more jobs and better housing, free all political detainees and abolish a system that offers Bahraini citizenship to Sunnis from around the Middle East as a way to close the gap with Shiites, who account for 70 percent of the population. Many of the newly minted nationals get jobs in security forces to further cement the number of presumed loyalists protecting the ruling system.

Increasingly, protesters are also chanting slogans to wipe away the entire ruling dynasty that has led Bahrain for more than 200 years and is firmly backed by the Sunni sheiks and monarchs across the Gulf.

Although Bahrain is sandwiched between two of OPEC’s heavyweights, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, it has limited oil resources and depends heavily on its role as a regional financial hub and playground for Saudis, who can drive over a causeway to enjoy Bahrain’s Western-style bars, hotels and beaches.

As night fell in the square, a Shiite imam extolled Bahrain’s young people as the lions of reform.

“This square is a trust in your hands and so will you whittle away this trust or keep fast?” the imam said. “So be careful and be concerned for your country and remember that the regime will try to rip this country from your hand but if we must leave it in coffins then so be it!”

Across the city, a caravan of cars from government supporters waved national flags and displayed portraits of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

“Come join us!” they yelled into markets and along busy streets. “Show your loyalty.”

Social networking websites also were abuzz with calls to press ahead with the protests. They were matched by insults from presumed government backers calling the demonstrators traitors and agents of Shiite powerhouse Iran. Some pointed out that Iranian hard-liners have called Bahrain the Islamic Republic’s “14th province” because of its Shiite links.

But the head of the largest Shiite political bloc, Sheik Ali Salman, said there are no demands for an Islamic role in politics.

“We are not looking for a religious government like Iran’s, but we demand a civil government” that represents Shiites and Sunnis, he told a news conference.

Bahrain’s relative calm Wednesday was in stark contrast with other Arab political showdowns. But all share efforts to escalate protests this week.

In Libya, security forces fired rubber bullets and water cannons at hundreds of marchers in Benghazi, the second-largest city. Witnesses said some police stations were set on fire and one protester said he saw snipers on a roof of a security headquarters firing on protesters.

The unrest was triggered by the temporary detention Tuesday of an activist but quickly turned into a rare public challenge to Gadhafi.

Video clips posted on the Internet showed protesters carrying signs and chanting: “No God but Allah, Moammar is the enemy of Allah” and “Down, down to corruption and to the corrupt.” Activists using Facebook and Twitter have called for nationwide demonstrations Thursday.

In Yemen, meanwhile, more than 2,000 police fanned out across the capital Sanaa after six days of Egypt-style demonstrations against President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has held power for 32 years.
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