Protest against naturalisation

A DEMONSTRATION against political naturalisation yesterday was described as "ironic" by organisers. As thousands of Bahrainis held the protest in Sanabis, organisers described how hundreds of naturalised Bahrainis in full riot gear stood by. But other than the demonstration ending half an hour earlier than intended, everything went smoothly and as planned, said National Democratic Action Society (NDAS) general secretary Ebrahim Sharif.
"It was a very peaceful demonstration," he told.
"The only thing we did not understand was why we were asked to change our route by the Interior Ministry."
"The original plan was to start the demonstration near the Bahrain Mall and finish near the Dana Mall," said Mr Sharif.
"But if you look near the Dana Mall, there were hundreds of riot police, all naturalised Bahrainis, waiting and what's more shocking was that they blocked the roads with barbed wires.
"We refused to change the route because we have used this many times.
"The government said this is a major highway, but we said it was going to be at 3.30pm on a Friday during Ramadan.
"Not a lot of people would be using this highway.
"They have allowed demonstrations here in the past before Ramadan and we do not see why we can't have it now, except maybe that they want to limit our movement."
"Because of the blockade, we decided to end things sooner than we wanted to," said Mr Sharif.
"There must have been at least 5,000 of us here, and we proved (the police) wrong.
"They thought there were going to be riots, but we showed them that we are all very civilised and just wanted to make a point to our government."
Critics argued that many people are being given Bahraini nationality for political purposes. Mr Sharif said that in 2002, there were about 243,000 voters in Bahrain. In just four years, voters have increased to 295,000.
"This is an increase of 52,000 in a four-year period, how could this be?" he asked.
"We have taken into consideration the changing of the minimum voting age from 21 to 20, but then the number should have only increased to about 36,000.
"There are 16,000 that have come out from nowhere.The only explanation is naturalisation in the last few years."