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Following his meeting with Al-Bakir, Belgrave sent a message informing the

Police Commandant Colonel Hamersley regarding the Administration’s agreement

with the NUC for the latter to hold a procession. It was agreed that the procession

would start from a mosque in Hoora in Manama at 10.00 am, most likely Al-

Awadhiyah Mosque, known today as Al-Farooq Mosque. The streets and the order

of the procession were clearly identified by Belgrave. The Adviser requested the

police to ‘provide two or three [police] jeeps, with radios, to precede the procession’

and to update the Police’s headquarters on its progress. Belgrave, furthermore,

gave instructions that if the procession became disorderly the police may deploy

officers from the Police Fort in Manama to control the crowd and arrest the

agitators. 832 As a further precaution British soldiers of the Cameron Highlanders

from Aden had stationed themselves in Bahrain, together with two units of the

Gloucestershire Regiment. 833

The demonstration on 2 November did not keep to the agreed route and

hundreds of youths broke away and marched close to the Political Agency. In the

afternoon events deteriorated rapidly as crowds of demonstrators flooded

Government Avenue in the heart of Manama, the gateway to the main souq. Al-

Zayani’s Petrol Station was set on fire, the African and Eastern bank offices were

damaged, Yateem’s Petrol Station was attacked, Gray Mackenzie’s windows were

broken, and other buildings were damaged during what had turned into a riot. The

832 TNA, FO 371/126895, Belgrave to Hamersley, 1 November 1956.
833 ‘Bernard Burrows, Residency’s Monthly Diary: November 1956’, in Political Diaries of the Persian
Gulf, vol. 20 1955-1958, ed. R.L. Jarman (London: 1990), 1-15 (2).

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