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Gault was out of Bahrain on leave until 6 November, but the Political Agency

recorded that on the first day of November the Agency had evacuated European and

American citizens from Manama. The Westerners were transferred to the BAPCO

housing compound in Awali where the company provided them with temporary

housing. Moreover the Agency’s report confirmed Belgrave’s diary entry that

students had taken part in the demonstrations, adding that the demonstrators

attempted to surround the Adviserate, Political Agency, and buildings owned by the

BOAC. Bahrain’s police managed to successfully contain the demonstration. On the

same day, the NUC issued a circular in which it called for a general strike and held

the British responsible for its outcome. The NUC further requested the Bahraini

Administration to allow it to organise a protest on Friday 2 November with a

predetermined route agreed by both sides. Permission to organise the procession

was granted by the Bahraini Administration. 828

Bahrain’s Government Annual Report for 1956 prepared by Belgrave

established that Al-Bakir had met with the Adviser and decided on the route of the

demonstration. It also established that the Adviser had received assurances from

the NUC’s Secretary that the demonstration ‘would be peaceful and orderly’. 829

Belgrave further added in his memoir that the meeting took place at his home. 830 Al-

Bakir did not mention any such meeting in his memoir. 831

828 TNA, FO 371/120549, Gault’s Bahrain Monthly Intelligence Summary: November 1956, 5
December 1956.
829 ‘Government of Bahrain: Annual Report for Year 1956’, 1-111 (7).
830 Belgrave, Personal Column, 229.
831 Al-Bakir, From Bahrain to Exile, 122-23.

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