Saturday
Nov122011
Bahrain 1st-Hand: Friday's "Festival of Loyalty" Opposition Rally
Saturday, November 12, 2011 at 16:15
The weekly opposition gatherings have resumed after stopping for one week due to the death of Ali Hassan Aldaihi, the elderly man who allegedly died after a police beating last week. Friday's gathering was hosted by five opposition parties --- Alwefaq, Waad, Alekha, Amal, and Altajamoa --- in the village of Ain-Athari and labelled as a festival of "loyalty to the martyrs, wounded, detained, and dismissed".
The festival, attended by 35,000 to 40,000 people, was distinctive from previous rallies for two reasons. The introductory speech was not given by a politician but by a journalist, Batool Alsayed, and another address cited the the human rights violations of the regime.