Hizbollah flags seized at Pearl Roundabout

V L Srinivasan

Manama (Bahrain), Feb 18:

Flags of Hizbollah, four fire arms, live ammunition, swords and knives and other incriminatory material were recovered at Pearl Roundabout yesterday.
In an interview with Bahrain TV, Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier Taraq Al Hassan, who gave details on what happened at the Pearl Roundabout and how the riot police broke up the sit-in, said that these material were recovered from one of the tents of the demonstrators when security officials searched them after evacuating the protesters.
“As many as 50 security men were wounded in the clashes,” he said and pointed out that some of them were critical and two security officers were stabbed with swords.
"The gathering at the Pearl Roundabout started with limited demands.
However, they turned into illegitimate ones soon," Brigadier Al Hassan said while explaining about the illegitimacy of the gathering from day one.
"The riot police commander asked the crowd over loudspeakers to leave the place before any action was taken against them and police forces covered one side leaving the others for the demonstrators to quit," he said.
But one of the demonstrators deliberately mowed on the security officers injuring
many and leaving one with amputated fingers before he was arrested.
"The security forces progressed from North to South, from Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Highway, offering a way to the demonstrators to quit the area from South," he revealed.
He also dismissed allegations that the security forces prevented ambulances from reaching the area. "This contravenes our noble message. What happened is that some demonstrators stole an ambulance.
So, we checked the identity of every ambulance entering the area," Brigadier Al Hassan explained.
Among the 50 policemen injured, 27 were admitted to Bahrain Defence Force (BDF) Hospital and the condition of two of them was serious.
The others are undergoing treatment at the health centre in police headquarters.
Brigadier Al Hassan added security forces tried to be communicative with protesters to end the sit-in peacefully, to ensure legal practice within this institutional state.
“However, some protestors exploited this tolerant atmosphere to impose illegal practices and disturb citizens and residents by stopping them at checkpoints made for vehicles and passers-by in the surrounding areas of the Roundabout,” he said.
He called upon people to follow the constitution and the law while expressing their freedom of expression, and to show patriotism and concerns for the interests of the country.