MANAMA, 1 March 2003 — Thousands of protesters marched through Bahrain’s capital yesterday, burning US flags, blocking traffic and demanding Washington cancel its plans to invade Iraq. Police said there were about 12,000 protesters, although organizers claimed there were 20,000.
Following Friday prayers, the protesters marched from Manama’s Ras Rumman mosque to United Nations offices in the capital chanting “Death to America, Death to Israel.”
Some demonstrators also carried placards accusing Washington of wanting to invade Iraq to seize its oil reserves and support Israel, while others urged Bahrain’s government to close the US Navy base on this Gulf island and expel the US ambassador if Iraq is attacked.
“US President George W. Bush is the carbon copy of Hitler who is planning a genocide against the Iraqi people,” activist Fadheela Al-Mahroos said as other marchers burned US and Israeli flags and carried a makeshift coffin with “Bush” scrawled on one end.
“I don’t think Bush will be satisfied until he drinks the blood of the Iraqi people,” said Mohammed Khaled Ebrahim, one of about 20 lawmakers who joined the demonstration. “Death to America! No American bases in Arab countries!” one man shouted over a loudspeaker as the protesters blocked three lanes of traffic on the busy Shaikh Hamad Causeway during their march.
“Israel is the enemy of God. America is the enemy of God,” the loudspeaker called.
Carrying small blue placards reading “No war,” demonstrators later dispersed near the UN headquarters.
Two boys waved toy guns at the front of the protest where young men carried a mock corpse on a stretcher. Behind them children with Iraqi and Palestinian flags periodically collapsed on the road to dramatize the consequences of a conflict.
“War is terrorism,” read one placard among the crowd. “I am against the war because it is injustice,” said Hassa Al-Khamiri, a member of the Bahrain Human Rights Society who joined the crowd.
She said demonstrating was the only thing people could do to voice their opposition. “We cannot do more.”
Shaikh Ali Salman of the Islamist Association, the country’s largest organization, said a wide spectrum of political and civic groups joined the protest.
“We believe we must give more chance for the inspectors in Iraq to do their work without war,” Salman said, referring to the UN arms inspectors searching for alleged weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Salman said the demonstrators hoped to send a message to US President George W. Bush: “All the world is against the war and you must listen to us.”
