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Bahrain protesters camp out in square ahead of talks
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By Cynthia Johnston and Frederik Richter
MANAMA (Reuters) - Thousands of anti-government protesters camped overnight in a Manama square that has come to symbolize their cause and waited for talks on Sunday between the opposition and the Gulf state's...
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Credit: Reuters/Hamad I Mohammed.
By Cynthia Johnston and Frederik Richter
MANAMA |
Sun Feb 20, 2011 12:54am EST
MANAMA (Reuters) - Thousands of anti-government protesters camped overnight in a Manama square that has come to symbolize their cause and waited for talks on Sunday between the opposition and the Gulf state's crown prince.
Bahrain's opposition is expected to put demands to Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, who is leading a national dialogue after days of unrest that has left six dead.
On Saturday protesters swarmed back into Pearl square putting riot police to flight and confidently setting up camp for a protracted stay.
On orders from the crown prince, troops and armored vehicles had withdrawn from the square, which they had taken over on Thursday after riot police staged a night-time attack on a sit-in by protesters, killing four people and wounding 231.
"All political parties in the country deserve a voice at the table," Crown Prince Salman told CNN of the dialogue, adding the king had appointed him to lead it and to build trust with all sides.
"I think there is a lot of anger, a lot of sadness, and on that note I would like to extend my condolences to all of the families who lost loved ones and all of those who have been injured. We are terribly sorry and this is a terrible tragedy for our nation," he said.
The crown prince said protesters would "absolutely" be allowed to stay in the square.
The crowds in Pearl square swelled into the thousands on Saturday, celebrating a triumph for the overwhelmingly Shi'ite protesters who took to the streets on Monday, inspired by popular revolts that toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.
In addition to withdrawal of security forces, the main opposition demands are the release of political prisoners, resignation of the government and talks on a new constitution, an opposition source, who asked not to be named, told Reuters.
Ibrahim Mattar, a former parliamentarian from the Shi'ite party Wefaq, had said earlier that a main demand of the opposition was that the government accept the idea of turning Bahrain into a constitutional monarchy.
The demands likely will be put on Sunday to Crown Prince Salman, seen as a reformist, the opposition source said. The government said dialogue had already begun.
"The two main players are Sheikh Ali Salman and Ibrahim Sharif," the source said. Sheikh Ali is the secretary general of Wefaq, whose members quit parliament over the crisis, while Sharif heads the secular Waad group that has not won seats in parliament.
AVOIDING SECTARIANISM
On Saturday, the crown prince suggested the unrest was the result of a lack of action on demands by Shi'ites who make up the majority of the population of the small Gulf Arab kingdom. which is ruled by a Sunni Muslim family.
He told Al Arabiya television that there may be a feeling that some basic demands had not been met. "We want to correct this situation and prevent its repetition."
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