Military preventing medics from accessing Bahrain's largest hospital (Ring of tanks surrounding it)

[Turborama]

Source: ABC (Australia)

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 18:38

MARK COLVIN: Armed forces have also formed a ring around the country's main hospital, Salmaniya Medical Complex. They have a ring of tanks around it, and no-one can get in or out.

Nedhal Khalifa is a doctor at the hospital. Unable to get to work, she spoke to me from her home.

=snip=

MARK COLVIN: Deliberately preventing people who are wounded from getting into a hospital sounds precariously close to a war crime to me.

NEDHAL KHALIFA: Well what's happening is a war crime; this is a genocide. I mean using a military against people who are completely defenceless, have no weapons whatsoever, there are women, there are children and there are men sitting in that roundabout.

Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2011/s3165831.htm

---

Full transcript and audio player at the link. Click here to download the interview (MP3): http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/news/audio/pm/201103/20110316-pm8-bahraindoctor.mp3

Syed Al Alawi, a witness, told Al Jazeera that troops were surrounding the Salmania hospital and not allowing doctors and nurses to enter.

Calling for help, Alawi said: "The GCC troops are for fighting against foreign forces, instead they are targeting the people of Bahrain. What's our fault, we are asking for our legitimate rights."

Full article: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/201131643831976772.html

http://blogs.aljazeera.net/live/middle-east/live-blog-bahrain-crackdown">Live Blog: Bahrain crackdown

9:56am A contact on Twitter passes along this photo of riot police surrounding an ambulance - notice that the ambulance's tire has been flattened:



9:49am Doctors in Salmaniya Medical Complex, the main hospital in Bahrain, say riot police are preventing them from moving in and out. That's also what we're hearing from the Wefaq Society, one of Bahrain's formal political opposition parties, which has been posting http://twitpic.com/49xuyh">photos from the hospital on its Twitter feed.

One of the photos shows riot police standing next to an ambulance - though whether they're blocking it or simply checking it is unclear. They're waving to a tank driving by on the street. Another photo shows hospital staff standing outside a closed gate.

And then there's this photo, of doctors and nurses standing idly at the hospital's emergency entrance:

Al Jazeera English broadcast a really interesting show the other day about Bahrain. It was an extremely insightful view into what's been going on there lately and gives a very good understanding of why what has happened over the past couple of days matters so much (as does the Inside Story show linked to at the bottom of this OP)...

                                        Peopele & Power: Bahrain - Fighting For Change

As unrest sweeps through the Middle East, People & Power looks at the mounting pressure for reform in Bahrain.

Pro-democracy activists in the Gulf state of Bahrain have been on the streets of the capital Manama for four weeks, but have yet to win the kind of dramatic results achieved by their counterparts in Egypt and Tunisia.

At first their demands were for constitutional reform and a reduction of the powers of King Hamad and the al-Khalifa ruling family, but opinion hardened after an attempted government crackdown in the first days of the protest saw seven demonstrators killed at Manama's Pearl Roundabout.

Although the army then withdrew and the regime began calling for dialogue, many protestors now want an end to the monarchy altogether.

The situation is further complicated by the fact that while the ruling dynasty is Sunni, the majority of the population and many of the protestors are Shia, and have long complained of political persecution.

With the US, which sees Bahrain as a key ally, and nearby Saudi Arabia and Iran all having a strategic interest, stakes are high.

As reporter John D McHugh discovered for People & Power, the young activists driving the protests are determined not to back down.

Watch here: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2011/03/201138153916892448.html

Inside Story - Saudi intervention in Bahrain:
Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Mar 16, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QTNHiuiW6k

Police crackdown against Bahrain protesters
Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish on Mar 16, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjteA9AmltQ

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/bahrain/">
Image above is a live link to AJ English's spotlight
page for all the latest on Bahrain & image below is
a live link to watch AJ English live online, free.

[madrchsod]

1. i was listening to this live last night on bbc overnight

listening to her live sure shook the crap out of me....

i know the japanese disaster is taking up the news but this conflict in bahrain could unravel the entire middle east.

[Turborama]

2. Doctor trapped in Bahrain's main hospital describes how Saudi troops have surrounded the building

By Sean O'Hare 1:00PM GMT 16 Mar 2011

In a phone call made to Telegraph Expat this morning, a surgeon at the Salmaniya Medical Complex in Manama has spoken of his fear as armed troops surrounded the hospital and prevented injured pro-democracy protestors from receiving treatment.

=snip=

Staff at the hospital include expat workers from India and the Philippines; there are apparently no Europeans or British people either working or being treated there, although Bahrain is home to many British expatriates.

Trapped inside the building for the last eight hours, the surgeon has watched soldiers with machine guns and army vehicles flying Saudi flags blocade the hospital's entrance, while snipers have taken up positions in the medical school opposite and four helicopter gunships have been circling above.

The surgeon, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "We are all inside, all of the medical staff. We are sitting doing nothing. We have a thousand beds and room for another thousand but can't treat anyone because the injured can't get to us. They have even barred women in labour from entering.

Full article (caution, contains graphic photos): http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/expathealth/8385486/Bahrain-protests-eye-witness-report.html

[Turborama]

3. Witnesses: Security forces attack protesters and doctors in Bahrain

By the CNN Wire Staff
March 16, 2011 4:10 p.m. EDT

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* NEW: Iran withdraws its ambassador to protest the crackdown
* Doctors say security forces stormed hospital
* Gunfire is heard at Pearl Roundabout
* Security forces have blocked highways leading to the capital

Manama, Bahrain (CNN) -- Security forces in Bahrain stormed the main hospital, beating doctors, and attacked demonstrators in Manama's Pearl Roundabout on Wednesday, witnesses in the Bahraini capital said. Bahraini officials deny these accounts.

Demonstrators reported hearing steady rounds of ammunition being fired while thick smoke rose from the Pearl Roundabout area. At least five helicopters whirred above the historic landmark, which has been a rallying spot for anti-government demonstrators in recent weeks.

=snip=

Doctors have been hiding in rooms, said Yousif Sharaf, a doctor at the hospital.

"We are trapped," Sharaf said. "We are asking for the security forces to please stay outside the hospital. They are beating the staff."

Full article, includes very insightful video of a report from Bahrain: http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/03/16/bahrain.protests/

[Turborama]

4. Bahraini Protesters: 'Please, Please Help'

3:56pm UK, Wednesday March 16, 2011
Alex Crawford, special correspondent

"Please, please help us! Are we not human in Bahrain? A foreign army has come to Bahrain and is attacking people everywhere. The international community has to do something."

Full article: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Bahrain-Protesters-Send-Texts-And-Emails-Pleading-For-Help-After-Security-Forces-Move-In-On-Them/Article/201103315953542?lpos=World_News_First_Home_Page_Feature_Teaser_Region_0&lid=ARTICLE_15953542_Bahrain:_Protesters_Send_Texts_And_Emails_Pleading_For_Help_After_Security_Forces_Move_In_On_Them

[Turborama]

5. Some more photos of those riot police hanging around that ambulance...

Taken from further away


Waving to Saudi colleagues


Waving to some more Saudi Colleagues


Saudi helicopter gunship flying overhead


Medical staff waiting in vain

[JCMach1]

6. I am so disgusted right now over this...