Bahrain tears down statue at centre of protests

statue at the centre of Pearl roundabout, the focal point and symbol

of weeks of pro-democracy protests in the Gulf island kingdom.

Drills and diggers cut away at the six bases of the statue

for hours, until it collapsed into a mound of rubble and steel

bars. Trucks stood by to take away the debris.

The concrete statue of six dhow sails holding up a pearl was

erected in the early 1980s to mark a summit of formation of the

Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Each of the six sails represents one of the members of the

GCC, which include Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates,

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Oman. The pearl represents the joint

heritage of the Gulf countries, whose economies were based on

pearl fishing before the discovery of oil.

Mainly Shi’ite protesters had taken over the grass-covered

roundabout near the financial district of Manama during weeks of

protests, setting up a tent city where free food was handed out

and political speeches and rallies were held into the night.

Bahraini riot police launched a crackdown on the Pearl

roundabout protest camp on Wednesday, driving out demonstrators.

Military troops later arrived to seal off the area which is

under a 12 hour daily curfew.