#Bahrain King Declares 3-Month State of Emergency, Orders Military to Battle Protesters

Looks like to be a "hot", civil war, waged against the majority of his defenseless citizens: an act of a coward and a despot, just like that of the master thug Gaddafi in Libya.

After 1,000 Saudi-led forces entered Bahrain, the embattled king declared the state of emergency to suppress the Shi'ite-led opposition.

From AP (3/15/2011):

MANAMA, Bahrain – Frenzied clashes swept Bahrain Tuesday, a day after a Saudi-led military force entered the country to defend its Sunni monarchy from a Shiite-led protest movement. Hundreds of demonstrators were injured by shotgun blasts and clubs, a doctor said.

As the government's crackdown intensified, the Bahraini king declared a three-month state of emergency Tuesday that gave his military chief wide authority to battle protesters demanding political reforms and equal rights for Shiites. One demonstrator was shot in the head and killed, and a Saudi official said one of his country's soldiers was shot dead by a protester.

The force of more than 1,000 Saudi-led troops from several Gulf nations saw its first day of action to help prop up the U.S.-backed regime in Bahrain. Its intervention was the first major cross-border military action to challenge one of the revolts sweeping across the Arab world.

Other Gulf states are solidly behind the Bahraini king, naturally:

Other Gulf leaders have urged Bahrain's king not to give ground, fearing that gains by Bahrain's Shiite Muslims could offer a window for Iran to expand its influence on the Arab side of the Gulf. There are also worries that political concessions could embolden more protests against their own regimes, which have already confronted pro-reform cries in Oman, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

They'd rather see bloodshed of the defenseless citizens than the Bahrain's king becoming more "democratic". It truly shows what kind of "leaders" they are (hint: they are not "leaders").

AP continues:

Tuesday's worst confrontations took place on the Bahraini island of Sitra.

A 24-year-old protester, Ahmed Farhan, was shot in the head and killed, said Dr. Ibrahim Youssef, a member of the medical team at the Sitra Health Center. Youssef said hundreds of others were injured by shotgun blasts and clubs.

"Hundreds of people are here. They are everywhere — in the halls, on the floor of the health center," he said. "People are screaming. There is lots of blood."

There was a growing conviction among the protesters, centered in the tent camp in the capital's Pearl Square, that the monarchy is unwilling to meet their demands for an elected government and a voice for Shiites in running the nation.

"They brought tanks from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to keep the monarchy as it is, not to change it," said Ali Issa, a protester manning a checkpoint on a road leading to the square. "We are expecting they will attack us any minute now."

At the square, thousands of protesters were still in shock over the arrival of the neighboring armies when the state of emergency was declared.

"We are ready for anything, but this protest started peacefully and it will end peacefully," said Ali Hassan, a demonstrator in Pearl Square. "We have no guns, but we will resist by remaining here as long as we possibly can."

Read the full article at the link.

It makes my heart sink.

And where is the US in all this? Just letting Saudi Arabia do what it wants?

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