Bahraini mother recounts firebombs agony
Manama, March 11, 2014
A Bahraini mother who was driving her 10-year-old daughter to a local suq reportedly pleaded with a group of thugs to stop hurling firebombs minutes before they torched her car.
She described escaping the "chaos" as a mob of 15 masked rioters hurled Molotov cocktails at police patrol jeeps on a busy road near Shaikh Isa bin Ali Mosque in Muharraq on February 15 last year, said a report in the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.
She said one of the masked men hurled a firebomb at her car's bonnet, which gutted the vehicle's engine and front bumper.
She told prosecutors she was forced to drive to safety while the front of her car was on fire.
The mob also set tyres ablaze and blocked the road with debris at 9pm to disrupt traffic.
The attack happened just one day after the second anniversary of anti-government protests.
Two Bahrainis, both 19, were yesterday jailed five years each for arson, participating in an illegal gathering and damaging the woman's vehicle by the High Criminal Court.
The mother said she urged one of the rioters to not attack her and her child.
"I was driving to Muharraq suq with my 10-year-old daughter and at first everything was normal and there were people shopping until the rioters came out and it was total chaos," she said in her statement to prosecutors.
"They set fire to everything and scared everyone.
"I saw eight men, who wore masks, throwing firebombs and burning tyres on the busy highway.
"They were standing right next to my car and one of them stood in front of my vehicle.
"I then pointed towards him and told him to get out of the way and not to throw the Molotov cocktail at us.
"But he looked straight at me and threw it at my car.
"It landed on the car's bonnet, which gutted the engine and front bumper.
"I then tried to drive out of there as I had my daughter with me and was afraid for her safety.
"Policemen then put out the fire in the car and saved us."
A Lieutenant Colonel told prosecutors police were tipped off prior to the attack, but did not know exactly where the rioting was going to take place. - TradeArabia News Service
