QADAM, 8 August 2006 — Thousands of Bahrainis marched from Qadam village, north of Manama, to Sanabis on the outskirts of the capital yesterday afternoon to express support for Hezbollah and demand that the UN Security Council be more balanced.
The local media estimated the size of the protest to be about 6,000 strong, including a large number of women. The demonstrators marched waving Hezbollah’s flags and carrying pictures of its leader Hassan Nasrallah.
The protest was one of the largest to be organized since hostilities broke out between Israel and Lebanon on July 12.
The demonstration came as Arab foreign ministers met in Beirut and ahead of an expected meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss a resolution for bringing about a cease-fire. Organizers emphasized that they wanted to send a message to both meetings.
Head of the Civic Committee to Support the Lebanese People, Seyyed Mohammed Hadi Al-Gorafi, criticized the delayed action by Arab governments over the Lebanon crisis.
“Venezuela was quick to withdraw its ambassador from Israel in response to the attack on Lebanon and Gaza while Arab governments were at a loss,” he said. “We wanted this protest to be a message to the resistance that the Arab people are standing behind them and supporting them.”
Al-Gorafi added that the protest was also a message to the Arab foreign ministers and the UN that they needed to address the issue with evenhandedness.
