RAMALLAH, West Bank — On Friday, April 19, thousands of Bahraini protesters were subdued by state violence when they assembled to demonstrate against the Formula One Grand Prix being held in Manama.

Pro-reform protesters from the February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition marched on the capital’s Pearl Roundabout. Clashes broke out when state security forces “fired tear gas and shotguns to disperse the protesters before they neared the area,” reported Al Jazeera English. Demonstrators responded by chucking petrol bombs and stones at police officers, chanting, “Your race is a crime” and “No, no to the blood formula.”

Elsewhere, thousands from the Shia opposition Al-Wefaq marched peacefully on the Budaya Highway, one of Bahrain’s main arteries connecting Shia-majority towns and villages to Manama.

Media reports note the massive increase in state security presence, adding that checkpoints were erected across the country to stifle the free flow of movement to and from areas neighboring the race venue.

In perfect harmony with the supposed democratic authenticity and respect for freedom of speech that the United States boasts to exclusively support in the Middle East, the government expelled three British journalists for allegedly violating “the laws and regulations” of the explicitly sectarian government. A statement released by the Interior Affairs Authority claimed that the expulsions were enacted to “ensure preserving the national security of Bahrain.”

This, of course, translates into preserving the status quo in a country that nauseatingly considers its sectarian majority, some 70 percent Shia Muslims, as mere footnotes and second-class citizens, all with the full-consent and inflated funding of the Obama administration.

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