Brian Ulrich points out that Bahrain is drafting a new law to ban public rallies. It seems that even the darlings of Arab democratization are starting to backtrack. For background information, check out Toby Jones’ Bahrain: A Year of Decision in the March 2006 issue of the Arab Reform Bulletin.
There’s nothing new about this. Bahrain over the winter was a lot like Egypt now, with protestors being beaten (including a pregnant woman) and sexually abused. I think they learned a lesson from Mubarak’s MB experience.
Don’t forget, Bahrain was also the Arab world’s pioneer in blogger imprisonment.
look at the bright side, at least in bahrain considering a group of 5 to be a protest makes some sense.