Page 125 - Personal Column (Charles Belgrave)_Neat

Afterwards they commented on the fact that there was I, standing on my
On November 5th the Shaikh decided that four of the leading
veranda in a blue shirt—it was rather a bright blue—smoking a cigar,
which they thought very funny. members of The Committee should be arrested. This time the Shaikh’s
They made no attempt to enter the Adviscratc, perhaps they thought decision had the backing of the British Government. The four men were
there were police inside the building. They moved along the sea road Shcmlan, Bakr, Alewat and Ibrahaim bin Musa of Hedd; the fifth man,
Ibrahaim Fakhro, of Persian origin, was already in custody. Three of the
towards the bazaar. It was when they got inside the bazaar that things
men were arrested in their houses that night, the other man was picked up
started to happen. At first they contented themselves with smashing the
next morning. They were sent by launch to Jidda island. Later a number
windows of buildings occupied by British companies, then they attacked
of other men were detained, but subsequently most of them were released.
the offices of the African and Eastern Company and set it on fire; they
We expected repercussions but nothing happened. The Committee’s
tried, unsuccessfully, to set light to the tanks at two petrol-filling stations
so-called second line of defence made no move, except that a number of
and simultaneously fires started in several houses in different parts of the
them left Bahrain, very hurriedly, for Qatar, Kuwait and the Lebanon and
town whose European owners had left them empty. At Muharraq the
several other people, who had been rather heavily involved, sought my
B.O. A.C. flats were set on fire, after being looted, and during the follow­
advice and when I suggested that a temporary change of air would be
ing day the mob burned down the ofllce of a new British-owned news­
beneficial for them they expressed their gratitude, and in a few hours they
paper, smashing the printing presses. They set fire to boats on the slipway
belonging to Gray Mackenzie and fired the Public Works office, on the were outside Bahrain. Some of them had been useful in the past, and I
thought that oitce the political atmosphere had cleared they might again
causeway, which was the only Government office to be damaged. During
these days of riot and turmoil the police did a magnificent job, but they be of use.
I believe that if the Shaikh had not been dissuaded from showing
were very hard pressed. Rifles were not used, but at night several Arabs
firmness in the beginning, it might have been possible to conclude the
who disobeyed the curfew order were peppered with small shot, which
negotiations successfully, but as long as The Committee believed that they
had a salutary eflfect. The British troops took no part inside the town, but
their car patrols kept clear the road between Manama and Jufair and the were supported by the British Government they felt that they were
leading from strength and could trump every card which the Shaikh
ring road round Manama.
On the third day of the strike an attempt was made to burn down played.
It was some days before conditions returned to normal. I had difficulty
the Catholic church. That the attempt was only partially successful was
due to a local Persian, whose young son heard some men talking about in persuading the timorous shopkeepers and merchants, especially those
who had plate-glass windows, to open up again. The villagers were
setting fire to the church. He told his father, who telephoned to me, and
running short of food as the shops in the bazaar were shut, so I arranged
I got a party of police to the church before the mob had done much
for sales of rice and flour at cost price in several village centres, which
damage. I then arranged with the Goanese community that they should
take turns to guard it, with a few armed watchmen. The priests and the delighted the villagers but upset the merchants; when this happened they
nuns had gone; to Awali. soon o pened their shops. Twice, when most of the shops had opened, they
shut again hurriedly because a band of youths ran down the main street
By November 4th the town was comparatively quiet, though the
calling out: ‘Shut your shops! There is going to be another disturbance.’
strike continued and the shops were shut. This was partly because the
BAPCO bus-drivers who carried the workers were afraid to return to We caught some of these lads and they did not play this game again.
Throughout the disturbances there had been no breakdown in essential 1
work. When I drove round the town I was horrified to see the damage
services in Manama, such as electricity, water and telephones, and the oil
and the bumt-out buildings.. The mob had used what were known
during the war as ‘Molotov Cocktails’, bottles of petrol wrapped in straw company had been able to keep the refinery working.
The trial of the five Committee members took place on December
or some inflammable substance, which were set alight and hurled into
buildings, where they exploded into flames. Such things had never been 2lSt an'd 22nd. The Shaikh appointed a special tribunal consisting of his
uncle, Shaikh Abdulla, who was a judge on the Appeal Court, and Shaikh
seen in Bahrain, and we never discovered who had introduced them.
Daij bin Hamcd and Shaikh Ali bin Ahmed, the two judges on the
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