Trump’s visit signals crackdown on pro-democracy activists in KSA, Bahrain

Saudi-backed Bahrain forces have intensified their deadly crackdown against pro-democracy activists after US President Donald Trump held a series of secret meetings with monarchs of the oil-rich Persian Gulf countries during his recent visit to Saudi Arabia.

TV footage showed kings of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) posing for a photo with Trump before they walked into their meeting with the US president during his recent visit to Riyadh on Sunday.

Trump told Bahraini king Sheikh Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa that Washington has wonderful relationship with ruling Al Khalifa regime in Manama.

"Our countries have a wonderful relationship together but there has been a little strain but there won't be strain with this administration," Trump said, adding, "We're going to have a very, very long-term relationship. I look forward to it very much - many of the same things common."

All Arab monarchies of Persian Gulf states, which are unconstitutional and have a dismal background of human rights violations are traditional allies of Washington.

Following Trump’s visit to the kingdom, Saudi-backed Bahraini regime forces stormed into the residence of Sheikh Isa Qassim, the spiritual leader of the country’s Shia majority in a northwestern village, arresting everyone inside the house. 

A large number of armored and military vehicles entered a neighborhood in the Diraz village early Tuesday.

The Manama regime's bulldozers were reportedly removing protesters' blockades and barricades from the streets.

Newly-released video footage shows the ruins of pedestrian shops that had been destroyed following clashes between protesters and regime forces on Tuesday. 

Some reports indicate that several people were killed and over 50 protesters were injured during the fierce clashes. 

Diraz is the native village of Sheikh Isa Qassim. It has been the scene of protests since last June, when the authorities stripped the cleric of his citizenship over accusations that he used his position to serve foreign interests and promote “sectarianism” and “violence.” He has denied the allegations.

Following the brutal operations, Bahraini clerics called for mass nationwide protests.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim Mousawi, a political analyst, told Press TV that Tuesday’s clampdown on the opposition figures and protesters in Bahrain means that the Al Khalifah regime has got the “green light” from the United States to oppress the Bahraini people.

“The Bahraini regime has gained a lot of support after the meeting with the American President Donald Trump,” Mousawi said. 

Rodney Shakespeare, a political analyst from London, also said that the British and the American governments are in collusion with the Saudi regime forces who launched an attack on Bahraini cleric's house.

 “Saudi Arabia is attacking the house of a democratic leader in Bahrain, because Saudi Arabia is in occupation of Bahrain,” Shakespeare told Press TV on Tuesday.

The Riyadh regime is hand-in-glove with the Al Khalifah regime in Manama to smash any democratic movement in Bahrain, Shakespeare added. 

In mid-February, Michael Springmann, a former US diplomat, said in an interview with Press TV that the Bahraini regime continues to crack down on peaceful protesters because of its reliance on an all-out support from the United States and Britain.

He noted that the US and the UK are using the Persian Gulf island nation to advance their own agenda in the region, which explains why they are turning a blind eye to the Bahraini people’s legitimate struggle for democratic rights.

“The United States and Great Britain talk a great deal about freedom, civil rights, human rights, democracy and constitutionally limited government. But when it comes to places like Bahrain, those words do not apply and do not exist anymore,” he said.

The analyst argued that Washington is throwing its weight behind the “brutally repressive” Al Khalifah regime, because Bahrain serves as the base for the US Fifth Fleet.

He also opined that Bahrain is on the brink of collapse, arguing that if it were not for the US Fifth Fleet, the country would not exist today.

Springmann further noted that Bahrainis have been holding peaceful protests, but regime forces, with the help of Saudi and Emirati troops, have “repressed, suppressed, shot, tortured, and arrested” them.

The US and UK governments have been facing criticism over their silence on Manama’s crackdown on dissent as well as their arms sales to the Arab monarchy despite massive rights concerns.

The Human Rights Watch in a statement on Tuesday strongly condemned the brutal violence by the Bahraini regime forces against protesters in a northwestern village as a crackdown on freedom of expression.

"Yet again the architects of bloody destabilizing violence in Bahrain appear to be the Al Khalifah government, and the timing of this operation - two days after [Bahraini] King Hamad's [bin Isa Al Khalifah] convivial meeting with [US] President [Donald] Trump - can hardly be a coincidence," the statement read.

Trump also looked to form Arab NATO 

Addressing to the so-called Arab Islamic American Summit in Riyadh on Sunday, President Trump also tried his best to form the Arab equivalence of the NATO military alliance to combat the so-called terrorism.

The pro-democracy activists and anti-war campaigners are now asking the US president whether crackdown on pro-democracy protesters represents a true war on terrorism.   

Commenting on such a military alliance, in an interview with Press TV on May 18, Jatras said the Saudi monarchs were known supporters of extremism and Trump’s claims to form anti-terror alliance were just a cover.

“Anybody who can characterize the Saudi monarchy and the Wahhabi establishment as peaceful and tolerant in any sense is absolutely surreal,” he said.

“As we know Saudi Arabia is the world’s foremost supporter of terrorist groups,” the analyst said, referring to the Riyadh regime’s military aggression against Yemen as well as its funding of terror groups wreaking havoc in Syria.

He said Trump and his advisers were hard at work to unite Arab countries against Iran.

“Reportedly he will announce the formation of something characterized as an Arab NATO, which is designed to counter specifically Iran,” he said.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk