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The following day was marked by further trouble. It started when a crowd of

some two hundred agitated Shi’ites gathered at 10.00 am in the Mu’min Mosque

very near to the Manama Police Fort. The crowd armed themselves ‘with bits of

wood, iron piping and leaves of motor-car springs’ and marched towards the fort.

The purpose was to break through the fort and free the sentenced Shi’ites,

presuming that they were held there. The police shot at the crowd after two

revolvers were fired from the demonstrators’ position, without receiving orders to

do so. The immediate result was that three demonstrators were killed and three

others wounded. Following the attack a number of rioters rushed to the public

Hospital in Salmaniya, Manama, near to the Agency, and took away the bodies of the

three fallen protestors. The sight caused more excitement among the crowds, some

of whom rushed into the Agency itself and seized a British flag. Burrows claimed

that the Political Agent persuaded the mob to leave the premises of the Agency after

the arrival of the bodies of the fallen. The Agent stated that the demonstrators

demanded ‘British protection, backed by British troops in the town’. Further, they

threatened that if their demands were not met it would make them ‘determined to

overthrow the ruling family’. Nevertheless Burrows underlined to the FO (using

Wall’s information) that none of the Shi’ite community leaders were part of the

recent disturbances and that those who led the recent disorder were men ‘of no

great repute or intelligence’. The Agent also ordered the disarmament of all Agency

guards for fear of crowds attempting to overcome the Agency in the future and that

the Agency’s guards would be unable to restrain themselves. Immediately following

the spread of the news of the day’s events, the Ruler contacted the Political Agent

© Hamad E. Abdulla 62