Page 40 - Records of Bahrain (7) (i)_Neat

26 Records of Bahrain

looked up for words of comfort, It proved difficult t.o
find an orator, the loaders of the Bnluirina who had

arrived all being unexpectedly coy, und Sayod Mahmood
Buying feebly that he couldn't make a opooch without a
microphone. Howovor, wo prodded him into utterance and
he delivered an orution that wau hero and there to the
point. The other leudors said gloomily thut it was not

sufficient to keep the crowd together in the mg' tarn, but
B9 the day was nearly half over, und the aftornoon is
3pont in sleep anyway and it is not the custom of

Bahrainis to fight after dark, we thought it would
servo. And, in fact, it did.
16. In tho meantime most of the Sunnite workers at
BAPCO fields and refinery hud obtainod transport, chiefly
private buses and were on their way homo. By about

1.30 p.m. the police party ut Hadm al Kowary under
Inspector Alwan hod hold up six or seven buses carrying
workorc who wore making for their homes cither in Manama
or Uuharraq. Ono of the vehicles held up here was a

Public Works Doportnent lorry which the BAPCO workers
had omptiod of lt3 cargo of stone and commandeured. It
! wua ducidod to disarm the workers and then to put o
policeman in ouch bus ond allow tho vohicles to proceed
singly ut intervals, not permitting tho Muhorruq

passengers to get off in Uunaoiu. The workers wore not
in u particularly belligerent mood; most of them grinned
sheepishly and flurrondt.rod thoir "arms" without doraur )

though ono or two covertly picked thorn up again und
smuggled them bock into the bus when tho police weren't
looking. 1 fancy most of thorn had 'armed' thomaolvos
because they believed they would be attacked by Shiites

/on ...