Bahrain: Muharraq United Against Sectarianism  · Global Voices
Mona Kareem

This post is part of our special coverage Bahrain Protests 2011.
As the Shia Muslims in Bahrain were celebrating one of their religious ceremonies in Muharraq, a group of men showed up and attacked them. Pictures of people injured and bleeding were shared on Twitter.
Bahrainis of both sects called the group “regime thugs” who wanted to start a sectarian clash between the people of Muharraq but failed because the families in the area united against them. On the other hand, some pro-regime Twitter users said that those thugs are pro-Shia opposition group “Wefaq” and were trying to start chaos.
Former Bahraini Parliament member Ali Alaswad (@am_aswad) [ar] commented on the night's events in a series of tweets:
ما حدث في مدينة المحرق هو نتاج حكومة استمرت لمدة تزيد عن ٤٠ عاماً ولا تواكب الأحداث الجارية
ما حدث في مدينة المحرق ربما سيحدث في مكانٍ ثان -الأزمة السياسية لا تجد من يقاربها في الحل
ما حدث في مدينة المحرق من اعتراض البعض على ممارسة الشعائر الدينية هو مخالف للدستور والأعراف
Arif Al-Banna (@ArifAlBanna) complimented the way people reacted to the events:
ما أثلج صدورنا هو قيام أهالي المحرق بمختلف طوائفهم بالتصدي لهذه الفئة الدخيلة على المجتمع
Big Mo (@ba7rainiDXB) called on people to control themselves and not to let things escalate:
@ba7rainiDXB: Mediocrity will always try to drag excellence down to its level. Don't trade your superiority for their inferiority.
Zahra (@Zzzzah) said it was all another game from the regime:
@Zzzzah: What happened in Muharraq today is just another regime's attempt to delude its supporters that it is the safety valve against sectarianism!
(@ghost8boy12) added:
@ghost8boy12: Those who attacked the religious ritual in Muharraq are themselves attack the protesters and villages but in civilian clothes!
A Bahraini female Twitter user (@Batoolisa) [ar] posted two photos of those injured:
البلطجية يهاجمون بالحجارة المعزين في المحرق قرب حسينية السيد محمود، ما أدى الى جرح عدد من المعزين http://t.co/YxKzSGyS
Injured man
صورة أحد الشباب مصاب من المحرق حسين غلوم http://t.co/ysEf0z4Y
Another Twitter user (@Ghadeerii) tweeted a video of the attacks:
@Ghadeerii: video of regime thugs interrupting Shia mourning religious rituals in Muharraq http://t.co/BATQLG0k
In the video [ar], you see scores of people facing off. One party chants “The people want Khalifa bin Salman,” the country's Prime Minister for more than 40 years, while the other responds with “Death to Al Khalifa,” the ruling family, which has been in power for more than 200 years.
Back on Twitter, Mahmood El Belushi (@MBelushi) praised Muharraq's unity saying:
@MBelushi: I'm a Sunni & against what the Sunni's did in #Muharraq #Shame on all the religious people who supported it.. UNITE DON'T MAKE IT WORSE.
On the other side, two of the pro-regime Twitter users tweeted:
@noon5551: There was no religious reason 4 Shiaa to go out on streets of Sunni Muharraq last night,it was purely hezbollah minority = Terrorism
@Bader_Alhammadi: Pictures from Muharraq yesterday http://t.co/X8Kzffke http://t.co/qx9HJnD8  http://t.co/tX132OZC
Police presence in Muharraq on the 27 October, 2011.
This post is part of our special coverage Bahrain Protests 2011.