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into the village of Arad but Sheikh Abdulla bin Isa Al-Khalifa, the Ruler’s uncle,

                   convinced them not to do so.  He also wisely placed his cars with armed personnel of


                   his own, to block any penetration by angry Sunni mobs into Arad.  Finally a curfew


                   was imposed on the night of 21 September from 8.30 pm to 5.00 am.  A ban on the

                   assembly of six or more people was also imposed.  On 23 September, the curfew was



                   lifted and the ban on local assembly was also lifted six days later.  The incident and
                   what had followed highlighted the need to improve the training of local police in


                   dealing with large riots, as Wall identified.  He also believed that there was ‘a real

                   need for more British officers’, in Bahrain’s Police Force. 141   In a discussion recorded


                   by Burrows with Belgrave, the need to better equip and develop Bahrain’s police

                   was mutually agreed on.  142



                          By the end of September the Bahraini Administration was unfortunately slow


                   in reacting to the sectarian crisis.  A state address should have been issued

                   immediately after the outbreak of the riot.  The end of the eventful month of


                   September, although no deaths were recorded, only saw the arrest of two to three in

                   relation to the disturbance.  In Wall’s view the Administration’s strategy was to ease


                   tensions within the community and let emotions settle down.  In an effort by the

                   British to explain the unforeseen events, the Political Agent presented the Resident


                   with a number of possible theories.  One was the spread of agitation by Shi’ites

                   coming from Persia, Iraq, and Al-Hassa in Saudi Arabia to Bahrain.  The other


                   possibility was tied to the greater picture of regional developments as he said:


                   141  TNA, FO 371/104263, Burrows to FO, 22 September 1953; and TNA, FO 371/104263, Wall to
                   Burrows, 6 October 1953.
                   142  TNA, FO 371/104263, Burrows to Belgrave, 13 October 1953.


                   © Hamad E. Abdulla                        45
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