Page 391 - Bahrain Gov annual reports (V a)_Neat

SI
There was an increase in liquor cases and traffic in narcotics. In one case the police
captured 900 lbs. of opium which had been brought to Bahrain from Oman and taken out to a
ship in Sitra harbour. This case disclosed facts from which it appeared that trade in narcotics
on a large scale was being carried on through Bahrain. The police could expect no co-oper­
ation from the public in detecting traffic in narcotics ; the Arabs saw no harm in a trade which
brought money to the country and which was not injurious to the people living in it. A
number of men who were sentenced to long terms of imprisonment by the Court for smuggling
opium were subsequently released by order of the Ruler.
In this year there were four cases of suicide. Two were by women who killed themselves
by pouring paraffin over their clothes and setting them alight ; two other similar cases, by the
same method, occurred in the following years. In the past suicides in Bahrain were almost
unknown.
A gang of safe-thieves became active and several large safes were stolen from shops and
offices. The gang was finally rounded up by the police. Films seen in the seven local cinemas,
always well patronised by the public, were thought by some, to have encouraged ideas of
suicide and new forms of theft.
From September, 1953, until November 1956 the police bore the brunt of maintaining
order among their own countrymen throughout a period which started with intense sectarian
dissention followed by general unrest, constant political disturbances, strikes and violent
demonstrations against the Government.
It was all the more difficult for the police because often the people against whom they had
to take action were closely connected to them, Bahrain being a very small place. Taking into
consideration the smallness of the force when the troubles began, the men's lack of experience
of large-scale communal disorders and the propaganda which they were subjected to from
outside Bahrain, by broadcasts from Cairo, and within Bahrain, from the party which was in
open opposition to the Government, it speaks well for the police that they carried out their
duties as competently as they did. Admittedly on certain occasions they acted without orders,
under provocation, but the foreigners who were most critical of them seemed to forget that they
were not a European police force.
In September, 1953, during the Muharram procession, when feelings between Shias and
Sunnis were inflamed, a fracas occurred between the Sunni spectators and the Shias partici­
pating in their religious procession. Immediately there was fighting all along the route and
many people were injured by stones, broken bottles and knives, but none fatally. The police
used lathis and rifle butts to restore order and the guard at the Political Agency, seeing an
excited mob advancing on the building, fired some shots in the air. Sunnis and Shias accused
each other of having planned and carried out an attack, but when an enquiry into the affair was
held by the Government, it was impossible to establish who started the trouble.
Next day a mob of Arabs attacked an isolated Shia village and injured some people and
destroyed one or two huts—the police arrived before much serious damage was done.
Various other incidents occurred during the last quarter of 1953 which aggravated the
Sunni Shia tension.

In June, 1954, there was a fight between Sunni and Shia workers at the refinery gate, one
Sunni Arab was killed and several people were injured. It was proved in court that the Shia
villagers of Sitra were the aggressors and a number of them and two or three of the other side
were sent to prison.

On 1st July, the Shias held a mass meeting in a mosque opposite the fort, where the prison­
ers were being detained. There were violently inflammatory speeches and when the meeting
ended the whole crowd, having armed themselves with iron bars and sticks, advanced on the
fort to release the prisoners. A senior N.C.O. went out of the fort and ordered the crowd to
disperse, the order was ignored. Someone in the crowd fired a shot and policemen stationed
on the top of one of the towers, without orders, fired their rifles in the air with the result that
four men, on the far side of the crowd, were shot. This incident was followed by a partial
strike and demonstrations by the Shia Bahama. It was after this affair at the fort that a group
of Sunni Arabs with extreme political views joined up with the leaders of the Shias with the
object of making various demands from the Government.