Thousands protest at Bahrain govt HQ

[maddezmom]

Source: AFP

Thousands protest at Bahrain govt HQ
(AFP) – 1 hour ago

MANAMA — Thousands of demonstrators massed Sunday at Manama's Al-Qudaibiya Palace, where Bahrain's cabinet meets, chanting slogans against the tiny Gulf state's government and King Hamad.

White-helmeted police with riot shields stood behind one gate, looking on as the flag-waving demonstrators chanted "topple Hamad! Topple Hamad!".

The kingdom's cabinet usually meets on Sunday at the palace, but it was unclear if the meeting had been moved elsewhere, or if it was cancelled.

"Hey Khalifa, get out! Get out!" demonstrators chanted, referring to the country's long-time prime minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, who has an office at the palace and has been a target of demonstrations.



Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hGlKIuLZiD4EdYZebRV_w9OcijwA?docId=CNG.9d0a22fe219df868fc2bff839b20f86f.81

[Shipwack]

1. The sad thing is, this is going nowhere..

I have a friend who lives there, and she says that right now there's a stalemate. The government is no longer repressing protesters, but neither are they willing to meet their demands (monarchy giving up authority to rule, new constitution, political prisoner release, among other things). The protesters, despite being a few different groups seem adamant that nothing less than those conditions can be the basis for talks to start.

A stalemate favors the monarchy. Protests have been going on for weeks now, and people are getting weary of marching and sloganeering. I wish I could see a solution for them.

A good blog from Bahrain for the latest news is http://mahmood.tv/">Mahmood's Den. Though he is a native Bahraini, he writes the blog in English.