PoliticsBahrain: Shia Rebellion: Sectarians won't dialogue
BBC News (Mar17,2k11)
17 March 2011 Last updated at 02:51 ET
Bahrain unrest:
Opposition arrests
follow crackdown
Authorities in Bahrain have arrested at least five key opposition figures, a day after a crackdown on anti-government protesters in the centre of the capital Manama, reports say.
The streets are said to be calm but extremely tense, with soldiers patrolling after an overnight curfew.
Correspondents say the opposition, which is seeking political reform, has gone to ground to plan its next move.
At least three civilians and three police died in Wednesday's violence.
Matar Ibrahim, a former opposition MP from Bahrain's Shia majority who recently resigned his seat in protest at the crackdown, told the BBC the government was completely ignoring the message from the US that they were on the wrong track.
The US state department has criticised the use of excessive force and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called for dialogue.
But the BBC's Caroline Hawley in Manama says opposition attitudes have hardened since the crackdown.Many Bahrainis are angry that troops
from other Gulf states have been brought in
Bahrain Protests
Mr Ibrahim told the BBC: "We refuse to enter a dialogue while there are guns pointed at our heads."
Bahrain - which has a population of 800,000 and is home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet - is the first Gulf country to be thrown into turmoil by the wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world. Protests there began last month.
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