It’s no coincidence that the sky is hazy today. There have been fires all over the island. Elections are happening for the first time since before Arab Spring (2011) and some people are happy and voting and others are unhappy and burning (both literally and figuratively). For the past several weeks our island has been wallpapered with gigantic posters of the various candidates (the elections are for the parliament).
Picture these everywhere. (and bigger)
Hello, giant man face. He’s in our district. Interestingly, women can also run for office. (Since 2002)
The unrest here is rooted in Sunni vs. Shia religious dispute. The majority population is Shia, but the government is overwhelmingly Sunni. There is a small Shia opposition group (there are also moderate Shia) that pulled their candidates (18) from the election out of protest. There were over 250 candidates running, but they were almost exclusively Sunni. I’m not sure what the process is to get your party’s candidate on the ballot, but historically the complaint is that the majority population is not properly represented in the government.
It has been reported that the opposition group didn’t want to participate in the elections because they don’t believe them to be free, impartial, and fair. So today in particular neighborhoods, they are calling for a boycott of the elections.
We had to go to bring our car to the dealership because my sunroof was stuck open and the weather forecast called for rain. Of course election day was the only day to do it — I got some photos of one of the most active areas as we were driving.
This is bigger than tires. Possibly a car (yes, seen that before), a pile of junk and old furniture, or an abandoned shack of a building.
On the way back on the other side of the highway.
See the white haze? That’s tear gas. It looks like the poisonous fog from the Catching Fire movie.
There was a huge cloud of it, but I couldn’t get a good angle on it. We could smell it in the air.
A small fire — looks like tires
This is always a busy corner. 24/7 there are police vehicles parked here to “keep an eye on things.” Sometimes I wonder if as much would happen if they weren’t there as an audience. They do keep it off the highway though so I’m thankful for that.
flames in the street
Ironically, hazy skies make the best sunsets.
In case you want to read more about the elections:
http://rt.com/news/208019-clashes-bahrain-elections-protesters/
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/23/us-bahrain-elections-idUSKCN0J605R20141123
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/bahrain/bahrain-elections-q-and-a-1.1416173
