Report from the Washington Post about the events in Bahrain – Bahrain Freedom Movement

A Bahraini opposition figure says reconciliation talks between the Sunni monarchy and the Shiite opposition start for the first time since anti-government protests erupted in the Gulf kingdom. Washington has pushed for dialogue in the strategic island nation, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet. The protests that began in February – inspired by wider Arab uprisings – have been the gravest challenge to any Gulf ruler in decades.

July 1, 2011

Bahrain’s biggest Shiite bloc will join reconciliation talks with Sunni rulers despite a harsh crackdown on pro-reform protests in the Gulf kingdom, party leaders say on the eve of the government-led dialogue. The decision by the group, Al Wefaq, lends important credibility to the U.S.-encouraged talks after more than four months of Shiite-led protests for greater rights and harsh crackdowns.

June 29, 2011

Bahrain’s king says that an independent commission will investigate allegations that protesters’ rights were violatedduring the deadly crackdown on anti-government unrest. King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s announcement comes as Sunni rulers are trying to open reconciliation talks with the Shiite-led opposition, months after the regime crushed the protest campaign for greater freedoms.

June 28, 2011

A Saudi military official says that next week, the kingdom plans to pull out some units of the 1,500-strong Gulf force sent to Bahrain to help quell a Shiite-led uprising demanding more rights. An adviser to Bahrain’s king says there are no plans for a full withdrawal.

June 27, 2011

The mass trial of 28 Bahraini health professionals who treated injured anti-government protesters resume in a special security court. The prosecution of 28 doctors and nurses, who are charged with participating in efforts to topple Bahrain’s monarchy, signals that the kingdom’s Sunni rulers do not intend to end their relentless pursuit of the Shiite-led opposition despite appeals for dialogue.

June 22, 2011

Bahraini protesters pour back to the streets after a security court sentenced eight Shiite activists to life in prison. The fast and angry reaction to the verdicts – the most significant display of unrest in weeks – underscores the volatility in the island nation after four months of unrest and raises questions about whether any credible pro-reform leaders will heed calls by the Sunni monarchy to open talks next week.

June 6, 2011

Dozens of doctors and nurses who treated injured anti-government protesters go on trial in a security court on allegations they participated in efforts to overthrow the Gulf country’s monarchy. The prosecution of 47 health professionals is a sign that Bahrain’s Sunni rulers will not end their relentless pursuit of the Shiite-led opposition despite officially lifting emergency rule last week. The doctors and nurses are arraigned during a closed hearing.

June 1, 2011

Eleven weeks after it called in foreign troops to crush an anti-government uprising, Bahrain announces Tuesday that it is ending the country’s state of emergency and inviting opponents to join wide-ranging talks on political reform. The announcement by Bahrain’s royal palace comes amid reports of a pullback of troops and tanks from some parts of the capital, Manama, which has remained under military control since the start of the crackdown March 15.

May 16, 2011

An influential Bahraini business group decides to freeze ties with Iran, Iraq and Lebanon in response to what it claims is foreign meddling during Shiite-led protests in the Gulf kingdom. The move by the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry is likely to ratchet up tensions between the small island nation – which is ruled by a Sunni monarchy and is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet – and Shiite powerhouse Iran and its allies.

May 16, 2011

Bahrain’s special security court postpones until next week the trial of 21 mostly Shiite opposition leaders and political activistsaccused of plotting against the state. The suspects – 14 in custody and the others being tried in absentia – are accused of attempting to overthrow the 200-year-old Sunni dynasty

May 8, 2011

Bahrain’s king sets a fast-track timetable to end martial-law-style rule in a bid to display confidence that authorities have smothered an uprising for reforms even as rights groups denounce the hard-line measures. The announcement to lift emergency rule two weeks early, on June 1, comes just hours after the start of a closed-door trial of activists accused of plotting to overthrow the Persian Gulf state’s rulers.

April 18, 2011

Gulf troops will stay indefinitely in Bahrain as a counter to perceived threats from Iran, which the island kingdom’s Sunni rulers have used as a reason for their harsh crackdown on the country’s Shiite opposition. Bahrain’s foreign minister, Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, told reporters that Iran is a real threat and the Gulf force is needed to counter Tehran’s ‘sustained campaign’ in Bahrain, the host of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.

April 14, 2011

Bahrain’s government appears to be pulling back from plans to dismantle main Shiite opposition parties after criticism from Washington and other allies. The state-run Bahrain News Agency says that authorities are holding off any action until the outcome of investigations into the main Shiite political group, Wefaq, and a smaller Shiite bloc.

April 13, 2011

Bahrain’s Shiite opposition party said Wednesday that another one of its supporters, the fourth to date, had died in police custody. Al Wefaq, Bahrain’s main opposition party in the Sunni-ruled Gulf country, says Haji Karim Fakhrawi died in “mysterious circumstances,” while his relatives pointed to a body covered in bruises saying he had died of torture.

April 4, 2011

Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls on regional rival Saudi Arabia to pull its troops out of Bahrain, where they are helping a Sunni monarchy put down a Shiite-led protest movement demanding equal rights and a political voice.

April 3, 2011

Bahraini authorities lifted a ban on the main opposition newspaper after its three top editors resigned to save the paper from a campaign to muzzle anti-government media and crack down on the Shiite opposition in the Sunni-ruled Gulf nation. Al-Wasat, the country’s most popular newspaper, did not appear Sunday after Bahrain’s Information Ministry ordered it to close down. Al-Wasat’s online edition was also blocked. The state-run Bahrain News Agency accused the paper of “unethical” coverage of the uprising against the country’s rulers.

March 17, 2011

Authorities arrest at least six opposition leaders and accuse them of inciting murder and destruction of property. Opposition groups say the leaders were arrested as part of an apparently widening crackdown on protests by members of Bahrain’s Shiite majority, who harbor mounting grievances against the tiny Persian Gulf state’s Sunni monarchy.

March 16, 2011

Soldiers and riot police used tear gas and armored vehicles todrive out hundreds of anti-government protesters occupying a landmark square in Bahrain’s capital. Demonstrators say at least two people were killed. Video: Soldiers clear out protest camp in Bahrain

March 15, 2011

The king of Bahrain declares a three-month state of emergency a day after Saudi troops enter the tiny island nation to help prop up its Sunni monarchy. The “State of National Safety,” which officials say is one level below martial law, is announced by the Bahrain Information Affairs Authority and broadcast on state television.

March 14, 2011

Saudi armored personnel carriers roll over a causeway into Bahrain. The extraordinary intervention appears to demonstrate that Bahrain’s neighbors will do whatever is necessary to bring an end to unrest that has threatened the region’s smallest and weakest kingdom. “Bahrain is a red line,” a senior Saudi official says. He says the deployment was part of an intervention authorized by the Gulf Cooperation Council in response to a direct request from Bahrain.

March 13, 2011

Security forces and protesters clashed in Bahrain during the most violent day in weeks. Witnesses in Bahrain say that more than 100 people are injured after police fire tear gas at protesters and attack them with batons. The demonstrators are trying to shut down the financial center of Manama, Bahrain’s capital, on the first day of the country’s workweek. Protesters throw gas canisters and stones at police.

March 11, 2011

Demonstrators in Bahrain who have been on the streets for almost a month calling for democratic reforms are attacked by government supporters brandishing sticks and knives, witnesses say. Police fire tear gas on the protesters as they attempt to march to a royal complex on the outskirts of Manama, the capital.

March 6, 2011

Thousands of Shiite opposition supporters block the entrance to the Bahraini prime minister’s office but fail to disrupt a government meeting as the campaign for reform in the strategic Gulf nation enters its third week. The protesters demand that the prime minister step down because of corruption and a deadly crackdown on the opposition in which seven people were killed.

Feb. 28, 2011

Hundreds of anti-government protesters block access to Bahrain’s parliament and force officials to cancel a meeting of the ruler’s hand-picked envoys. The demonstration appears part of a strategy to hold rallies at sensitive locations in the capital Manama. The idea is to boost pressure on the monarchy following two weeks of marches and clashes that have left seven dead.

Feb. 24, 2011

A government spokeswoman says a prominent opposition leader will not be arrested if he returns to Bahrain, but it remains unclear whether he is free to travel. The possible return of Hassan Meshaima after months of voluntary exile in London could mark a new phase for the protest movement as the Gulf island’s monarchy tries to open talks to end the most severe political crisis in decades in the nation.

Feb. 22, 2011

Tens of thousands of Shiite-led protesters fill the central district of Bahrain’s capital in the largest demonstration since the campaign against the government began eight days ago. King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa also orders the release of some political prisoners in a concession to the opposition, but it is unclear how many will actually be released.

Feb. 19, 2011

Anti-government protesters stream back into Bahrain’s Pearl Square roundabout Saturday to continue their push for political reforms after tanks and armored personnel carriers rumble out of the capital following an order by the crown prince for the military to withdraw.

Feb. 18, 2011

Thousands of pro-government marchers rally in Manama on Friday in support of Bahrain’s king, a day after authorities cracked down on protesters and imposed a state of emergency.

Elsewhere around the Bahraini capital, armored personnel carriers remain parked on a bridge above Pearl Square, where riot police violently displaced mostly Shiite anti-government demonstrators the day before.

Feb. 17, 2011

Swelling anti-government protests in Manama are broken up in a predawn raid by police who use tear gas, clubs and rubber bullets to clear the crowd. At least two people are killed, and protesters say others are critically injured. There is no official word on casualties from Bahrain’s authorities.

Hours later, tanks rumble into Manama as Apache helicopters fly overhead. Military vehicles and police block roads, and some areas are cordoned off with barbed wire. The Bahraini national security council meets and declares a state of emergency.

Feb. 14, 2011

Demonstrators face rubber bullets and birdshot to demand more freedoms in the relative wealth of Bahrain. At least 25 people are injured, and one man dies after suffering severe head trauma. Police later use vans and other vehicles to block main roads into the capital of Manama to prevent a mass gathering that organizers intend as an homage to Egypt’s Tahrir Square. 

The date of the protests is the anniversary of Bahrain’s 2002 constitution, which brought an elected parliament and other pro-democracy reforms to the country. Bahrain is the home of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, which plays a major role in obstructing Iran’s attempts to expand its influence in the region.