Bahrainis call off protest plan

A group of unemployed Bahrainis gave up a planned protest yesterday, one day after His Majesty King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa warned against politicising the unemployment issue.

A spokesperson for the unemployed told Gulf News the group has decided to stop the planned two-day sit-in outside the Prime Minister's Court after a deal was reached with the Capital Security Department.

Under the deal, the unemployed citizens would register their name in a list that would be sent to the Ministry of Labour.

The ministry would seek "suitable jobs" for them, he said.

At Sunday's weekly Cabinet session, King Hamad said demonstrations and rallies were guaranteed by the Constitution.

"However, the rallies and protests that cause harm to citizens and hinder their work, and those being organised with no particular cause or the ones that don't abide by the law were unacceptable," the King was quoted by the Bahrain News Agency, BNA, as saying.

"Such rallies do not achieve the citizens' purpose nor do they solve the jobseekers' problems," he added.

He urged the government "to create more job opportunities and provide speedy solutions for the unemployed", BNA said.

His remarks came two weeks after 50 people demonstrated outside the Royal Court demanding jobs.

The rally led to clashes with the police who had initially tried to disperse the crowd peacefully.

The protesters claimed the police started the clashes by beating up a number of them. But the ministry said the police had been attacked first by the protesters.

Bahrain has a population of 700,000. The unemployment rate currently stands at 15 per cent by most estimates.

The issue has been the point of frequent demonstrations over the past few years.