A Gulf state that is an odd man out

THE Arab protests at last reached the Gulf on February 14th, when small and scattered demonstrations took place in Shia villages in the Sunni-run kingdom of Bahrain. They soon gained momentum, turning into a rally of thousands in Manama, the capital, before being bloodily dispersed in the early hours of February 17th, leaving at least three people dead. As The Economist went to press, the authorities seemed to be back in charge but the situation was dangerously fluid.

Three days earlier, riot police had broken up the first pockets of protest. But their heavy-handed tactics backfired. A young man was killed. The next day, hundreds joined mourners taking his body home. Police attacked them with tear-gas and birdshot. In the mêlée another young man was shot dead. By the evening the crowd had swelled to tens of thousands, who then occupied a big roundabout near the city centre known as Lulu (Pearl) Square, seeking to copy their Cairo counterparts.