SUMMARY
Calls for democratic, social, and economic reforms have been made by the Bahraini population since independence from Britain in 1971, but the government has only pursued these with moderate success and modest will, failing to entirely appease the population. This led to a string of protests during the 1990s that was met by a violent response from the security forces, leaving many injured and dead, but also paving the way for limited democratic reform by introducing elections to the lower house of the National Assembly, giving women the right to vote, releasing political prisoners and promising a return to constitutional rule. These measures were, however, seen as largely superficial by the opposition groups and not dealing with the main issues.
In February 2011 some 6000 protestors, inspired by the events of the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt, began marching in Bahrains capital, Manama, to call for reforms and for the Royal Al-Khalifa family to relinquish their autocratic hold over Bahrain. These protests were the result of months of increasing political repression and decades of broken promises of democratic reforms.
In response to the protests in both the capital and in villages around Bahrain, the police dispersed the protesters violently using tear gas, rubber bullets and shotguns, resulting in several injuries, the hospitalization of many people and even a couple of fatalities. Angered by the deaths, protesters subsequently marched to the Pearl Roundabout in the capital on 15 February, numbering in the thousands. Police did not initially try to disperse the demonstrators at the roundabout as King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa had given permission to the people to occupy the area to "express their sadness" over the dead protesters.
However this only lasted two days before about 1000 police were sent to the roundabout in an operation to clear it of an estimated 1500 protestors who were staying in tents during the night. The violent dispersion led to hundreds of injuries, many missing and more fatalities as the police used shields, sticks, sound bombs, tear gas and shotguns at the unarmed protestors. Within hours of the raid in Manama, sporadic clashes occurred throughout the country and the military was called in to restore order.
Initially the Crown Prince promised a national dialogue, the King released a number of political prisoners and the security forces were withdrawn from the Pearl Roundabout. This did not last long, however, as by mid-March, the King declared a state of emergency, invoked martial law and authorized the military to take all measures to "protect the safety of the country and its citizens". The protestors were forcibly removed from the Pearl Roundabout with numerous injuries and casualties, even aimed at medical personnel trying to treat the wounded. The security forces conducted mass arrests of protestors, with several dying in custody.
Following a Bahraini request to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), two of its other members, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), even sent troop reinforcements to the Bahraini military and police.
Despite the ban on demonstrations, protests continued throughout the spring even as the government temporarily banned two of the main political parties which represented the Shia majority. Violence diminished during the remainder of the year even though tensions were still high between the government and opposition groups who had failed to make any progress in the limited negotiations that took place.
By the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012, the situation was still tense with violent clashes occurring as the one year anniversary of the protests approached in February.
The Government of Bahrain first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 2011, when the one-sided violence resulted in more than 25 civilian deaths. The threshold was reached in mid-December of that year when violence by the government had resulted in 26 deaths.
