US embassy cable - 04MANAMA409

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAMA 000409 
 
SIPDIS 
 
CAIRO FOR STEVE BONDY, 
LONDON FOR ETHAN GOLDRICH 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/21/2029 
TAGS: PINS, ASEC, PGOV, KISL, BA 
SUBJECT: VIGILANTES ATTACK RESTAURANT IN NAME OF MORALITY 
 
REF: A. MANAMA 389 
     B. MANAMA 379 
     C. MANAMA 336 
     D. MANAMA 237 
     E. 03 MANAMA 2980 
     F. 03 MANAMA 2686 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Robert S. Ford for reasons 
1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (C)  SUMMARY.  For the second time in two weeks, mobs of 
Shi'a youths ransacked on March 17 a place of "unethical 
practices," destroying an upscale restaurant known to serve 
alcohol.  Similar to last week's unruly mob that broke into 
private residences identified as vice dens in two Shi'a 
neighborhoods, the attack on La Terrasse restaurant was well 
organized.  The Ministry of Interior has vowed zero tolerance 
for this type of behavior in the future, but police response 
on March 17 was slow and indecisive.  The hardline opposition 
has publicly justified these attacks on the moral ground of 
cleaning up neighborhoods after a tone-deaf GOB has refused 
to enforce the law.  Despite Bahrain's extensive security 
preparations (ref b), the opportunity to embarrass the GOB 
during the Bahrain Formula 1 race in early April could be too 
much of an opportunity for the Shia extremists to let pass. 
We think more attacks on establishments like La Terrasse 
(i.e. isolated in proximity to a Shi'a neighborhood) could 
happen.  END SUMMARY. 
 
-------------------------------- 
IN THE NAME OF MORAL CORRECTNESS 
-------------------------------- 
 
2.  (C)  On March 17, a group of 40-50 Bahraini youths 
approached a residence identified as a vice den, and 
menacingly harassed the owner for selling alcohol out of his 
home.  According to a reliable Embassy contact from the Youth 
Forum (strictly protect) some of the men brushed past the 
owner, checking rooms for alcohol and prostitutes. They 
interrupted two prostitutes at work and made the customers 
flee. Carrying knives, sticks, chains and Molotov cocktail, 
the group proceeded right past the Khamis police station to 
La Terrasse restaurant.  Wearing scarves to conceal their 
faces and chanting "Haram, Haram" (Arabic for "forbidden") 
some of the juvenile offenders rushed inside, smashing 
everything in sight and attacking patrons.  The press 
reported that a South African customer was injured by a club 
studded with nails and one of the attackers was stabbed in 
the stomach by a customer defending himself.  Most patrons 
fled the premises, but some British and Americans (at least 
4) locked themselves in the restaurant bathroom and called 
the police.  According to one of the co-owners, the raid 
lasted about an hour. 
 
3.  (C)  After the attackers left, those who hid in the 
restaurant bathroom sought refuge at the Ritz Carlton.  They 
told PolOff on March 17 that the police did not respond to 
their telephone calls for help. Restaurant co-owner J.J. 
Bakhtiar (the grandson of former Iranian Prime Minister 
Bakhtiar) told the press that the police stood outside the 
restaurant during the raid for 20 minutes without acting.  A 
close friend of the owner told PolOff on March 18 that the 
owner had received threats in the past but was not threatened 
on this particular night.  Bakhtiar related to PolOff that 
the death threats delivered in Farsi have resumed and 
inspection of the premises on March 18 revealed that the 
attackers doused the back wall of the restaurant with 
gasoline.  Bakhtiar surmised that the attackers planned to 
burn his restaurant to the ground but inexplicably moved on 
before setting the restaurant on fire.  Co-owner Khalid 
Abdulla Hejris recalled that La Terrasse had been last 
attacked on the night of the late Januray Eid al-Adha, 
resulting in a marked loss of business.  Bahktiar related to 
PolOff that the Eid attack involved Molotov cocktails thrown 
on the restaurant roof. 
 
4.  (C)  President of the Youth Forum Rashid Al Ghayib, who 
has excellent contacts among young Shia, told PolFSN on March 
21 that these attacks and those of the week before were 
carefully planned over a long period of time.  Five vice dens 
in the Al Makharga and Al Malkiya areas of downtown Manama 
were raided by Shi'a youths after weeks of surveillance.  The 
youth completely destroyed the bars and brothels.  At least 
five individuals were injured during the attacks.  Just hours 
after the attacks, one of the assailants posted at 
www.malkiya.com an 8-minute video with a music soundtrack of 
the vandalism. 
 
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GOB REACTION 
------------ 
 
5.  (C)  The GOB denounced the violence and gave assurances 
that these violent acts will not reoccur.  For example, the 
Chairman of the Council of Representatives Khalifa Ahmed Al 
Dhahrani warned that acts of sabotage and violence harm 
national economic and political reforms, and will take the 
country back to the time of troubles.  The GOB sent the 
Embassy a diplomatic note asserting that the GOB will not 
allow this type of violence to happen again.  The MFA 
MinState told the CDA on March 23, that they will "not permit 
any kind of disruptions."  Undersectary of the Ministry of 
Interior (MOI) Shaikh Daij told RSO on March 22 that security 
forces have entered into Phase One of the Formula One 
security plan.  The increased visible police presence should 
guarantee citizen safety and expand coverage of GOB response 
to any vigilante acts, he said. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
BAHRAINIS CONDEMN VIOLENCE AND BLAME THE POLICE 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
6.  (U)  Outrage at the attacks reverberated through 
newspaper editorials.  Columnist Ali Saleh argued that 
Bahraini citizens suffer because the GOB won't stand up to 
conservative Islamists.  Abdulla Al Ayoobi declared that 
these violent attacks are the direct result of continued 
rhetoric in Parliament that started with the Nancy Ajram 
concert (see reftel f), followed by the shut down of the 
television show "Big Brother." (see reftel c).  The 
indecisiveness of the police to quell the violence gave 
commentator Ahdeya Ahmed, a normally liberal voice in the 
papers, an argument for the GOB to bring back the oppressive 
State Security law to re-empower the police forces. 
 
7.  (C)  Most representatives of political, business, 
religious, and cultural societies condemned the incident at 
La Terrasse as illegal, unjustifiable and irresponsible. 
Prominent Shi'a religious cleric Shaikh Isa Qassim told the 
press, "you can't fight vice with another vice."  In Al Wasat 
on March 22 prominent pro-reform Shia cleric Shaikh Dhia 
Mousawi denounced the violence and addressed the youth, "by 
doing what you did, you have offered a free service to those 
who want to reinstate oppression and the State Security Law." 
 President of the Youth Forum Rashid Al Ghayib told PolFSN on 
March 21 that his constituency condemned the attacks for 
their violence, but also asserted that actions taken were in 
direct response to the police doing nothing to close down 
these vice dens.  Privately, some well-to-do Sunnis 
recognized that the problem results from bad GOB real estate 
zoning decisions.  An Undersecretary in a Ministry told CDA 
on March 22 that La Terrasse was attacked because the GOB 
denies zoning permits to any tourism establishments in Riffa, 
but allows places like La Terrasse to open next to Shi'a 
neighborhoods.  A prominent businessman told CDA that places 
like La Terrasse with their alcohol and loud patrons are 
provocative because they are not zoned away from residential 
neighborhoods. 
 
------------------------- 
HARDLINERS JUSTIFY EVENTS 
------------------------- 
 
8.  (C)  Hardline Shi'a oppositionists sought to place full 
blame for these incidents on the GOB. After speaking with 
some of the rioters, Al Wifaq President Shaikh Ali Salman was 
quoted in the press claiming that the attack was fueled by 
grievances over lack of jobs, low salaries, politics and 
citizenship.  He blamed the Ministry of Interior for the 
outbreak of violence since it did not respond to the numerous 
complaints from residents about vice dens in Shi'a 
neighborhoods.  Shi'a chat rooms echoed with comments.  One 
participant justified the attacks with the complaint that 
while tourism establishments are banned in Riffa (where the 
Al Khalifa royal family lives) they are allowed in Shi'a 
neighborhoods.  On March 19 the four boycotting opposition 
societies issued a statement to "Al Ayam" in which they 
reluctantly rejected the sabotaging of public and private 
properties, but then turned on their heels and justified the 
incidents as "mere popular reactions to unacceptable national 
actions." 
 
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COMMENT 
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9.  (C)  The hardline Shia opposition within Al Wifaq is on a 
roll.  The "Martyr's Day march on National Day (December 17, 
2003) and February's constitutional seminar successfully 
embarrassed the GOB.  Using Sunni Islamist parliamentarians' 
moralist rhetoric as political cover, they have added to the 
GOB's embarrassment with last year's Nancy Ajram riots, and 
through the recent attacks on neighborhood purveyors of 
alcohol.  An ineffective police response to the Shia 
vigilantes' vandalism, arson, assault, and battery, along 
with continued moral outrage at police unwillingness to crack 
down on vice in Shi'a neighborhoods, leads us to expect more 
vigilante behavior. 
 
10.  (C)  The owner of "La Cave" restaurant confirmed what 
the French Ambassador told P/E Chief on March 24 that his 
isolated, upscale, alcohol-serving restaurant has received 
threats that it will be attacked next. The expansion of 
targets from illegal alcohol and prostitution purveyors to a 
legal restaurant in proximity to Shi'a neighborhoods is 
disturbing, especially as we approach a Formula One race 
(April 14) that is expected to draw thousands of 
hard-drinking European visitors.  The hardline opposition has 
shown a pattern of scheduling major incidents, 
demonstrations, attacks, and conferences, to embarrass the 
GOB.  During F-1, we cannot rule out an attack on morality 
grounds on an isolated restaurant that serves alcohol. END 
COMMENT. 
FORD