In Bahrain, Loyalty to the Martyrs

Written by: Yacoub Al-Slaise
 

Since Saturday, anti government protesters have been protesting peacefully and freely at Pearl (Lulu) Roundabout. Today marked the eighth day of Bahrain’s Day of Wrath protests, as Bahrain’s opposition parties organized a mass march from Bahrain Mall to Pearl (Lulu) Roundabout as a sign of loyalty to the eight fallen martyrs from the protests.

@ba7ari Anti gov protesters heading to Lulu sq, more to come #bahrain #feb14 #eu #hrw #un #gcc #gulf #uae

Demonstrators marching towards Pearl Roundabout

 

@arwaCNN Biggest anti-govt march in #bahrain along main road 2 pearl roundabout http://yfrog.com/gzkocsqj

Aerial view of march in front of Bahrain Mall

 

@alihashemii حاليابالبحرين مسيرةالشهداء http://twitpic.com/42juom

‘Now at the Loyalty for the Martyrs march’

 

@emoodz Organizers confirm a gridlock! They start at Bahrain Mall and extends all the way to #lulu.. #Bahrain

@Nabeelrajab
#bahrain #feb14 اكثر من خمسون الف امراءة مشاركة في التظاهرة ويصرخن سلمية سلمية مسيرتنا سلمي

A short video of the protest on the ground. Uploaded by YouTube user nadooiwish

Despite national TV broadcasting Monday’s National Unity rally at Al-Fateh Mosque, no television cameras nor mention of the Martyr’s March reached the Bahrain TV. The Bahrain Twittersphere was quick to notice that and expressed their disappointment and frustration of the government biased programming.

@Joojalkhalifa BTV totally ignoring today’s protest. Not even happening, nope. Nothing. What? Protest?Who?Where?Manama?Ppl went yesterday to Fateh, yes…

@angryarabiya Bahrain TV why do u put live broadcast of pro-gov rally for hours and not even one image of todays more than 100thousand protesters rally?

@ehsankooheji I mostly blame BTV’s selective reporting for the unhealthy divide we are in today. More than I blame riot police or military shootings.

@MDaaysi #Btv in serious denial at the moment … why not show all protests in #Bahrain if you showed yesterday’s ? #feb14 #justsaying

CNN’s Arwa Damon, who has been covering Bahrain’s protests, was broadcasting images from the march live but received word from Bahrain’s Information Affairs Authority to cut the live broadcast.

@arwaCNN After our last live broadcast #bahrain min. of information called & said we R not allowed 2 live broadcast #cnn

This post is part of our special coverage of Bahrain Protests 2011.