Anti-Israel rally in Bahrain

Manama | Gulf News | 28-07-2002

Brandishing banners that urge Arabs to "retaliate" and Israelis to "get ready for the sequences", several hundred people rallied peacefully outside the UN House in Manama Friday night to condemn the latest Israeli atrocity in which 16 people were massacred in an aerial attack on the Gaza Strip last week.

The rally was organised by four political groups, the Islamic National Wefaq Society, the National Democratic Action Society, the Islamic Menbar Society and the National Democratic Tajammu in association with the Bahraini Society against Normalisation with the Zionist Enemy.

"Arabs must join hands to defend the legitimate Palestinians rights which are being violated over and over again by the Israelis, who enjoy the unprecedented American military and political support," Al Wefaq vice president Hassan Mushaima told the protestors, adding that Bahrainis will continue their support for the Palestinian people "until the occupied territories were liberated and the refugees returned to their homeland."

Protestors, including scores of women and children, chanted anti-Israel and U.S. slogans and carried placards calling upon Arabs to raise their voice against the continuing Israeli atrocities. One banner read: "It is time to retaliate" and another tells Israelis to "gather your troops and leave. You're not welcome anymore".

Friday's protest was the first since last April's series of pro-Palestinian demonstrations, the most notable of which turned violent when protestors attacked the U.S. embassy on April 4 with fuel bombs and stones.