Demonstrators vow to avenge three men killed by police during a pre-dawn raid on their base camp in the centre of the capital
The doctor had arrived at work to treat the wounded, but instead he became the focal point of an uprising. Hoisted on the shoulders of nurses and ambulance workers, he asked for a loudhailer and shouted: "People of Bahrain, you will win your rights and your dignity. What they have done to you will be avenged."
The crowd surged towards him and roared approval. "Down with the king, down with the government," they shouted.
A hospital forecourt was an unlikely spot to start a revolution. But the thousands of people who surged into the grounds of Salmaniya hospital in the capital Manama clearly believe a revolt has been born that will lead them into a showdown with police, perhaps as soon as Friday.
The demonstrators have vowed to avenge three men killed by riot police during a pre-dawn raid on their base camp in the centre of the capital. Another protester later died of injuries sustained in the raid.
The raid left their tent city in ruins and temporarily destroyed hopes of a peaceful change. They had spent the day regrouping inside the grounds of the hospital after being evicted from the Pearl Roundabout by up to 500 officers who attacked them shortly after 3.15am on Thursday.
Their numbers had grown to around 4,000 by late afternoon, rallied by calls through social media and by a restless middle class, which until now had not been prominent in protests.
Organisers, among them hospital consultants, were urging demonstrators to take to the streets en on Fridaymasse today to show their anger against the government's show of unrestrained force. "For generations they have treated us as the spoils of war, almost like a ransom to use for their pleasure," said one doctor in the hospital's intensive care unit. "The regime has all the key security posts: justice, security, interior and defence. Their stranglehold on us must be broken."
Sadiq al-Ikri, a trauma surgeon at the hospital, was in an intensive care ward after being attacked at the roundabout camp, then handcuffed and repeatedly kicked in the head. Al-Ikri had talked with the Guardian only hours before the attack, inside the small hiking tent he had bought to use as a triage facility for any demonstrators with minor ailments. "We are not looking to overthrow the regime," he had said, offering dried apricots and nuts. "They just simply have to be more accountable, and the king has to play a role as a constitutional monarch."
Colleagues say al-Ikri's tent was slashed open by charging riot police who first handcuffed him then kicked him savagely about the head. As he was being treated by his colleagues, most of the others from the camp who had been wounded were in nearby wards, many with broken limbs and gaping wounds.
The interior ministry produced images that it said were proof of police officers recovering from knife wounds and beatings they had received during the clashes. The claim was hotly denied by the protesters who said they had no weapons, and they had been attacked as they slept. The Guardian had spent several hours at the camp before to the attack, talking widely with those present, who were in a festive mood. There was no sign of belligerence, or of weapons.
Demonstrators, most of them Shia Muslims, said the raid had left them more determined to force change to a regime they feel seriously discriminates against them. Although official figures are not made available, most people in this small Gulf island state are Shia, but it is ruled by the Sunni Al Khalifa family, with Sunnis dominating the ruling class and military, and disproportionately represented in the business and landownership. "I am a doctor, I am Shiite, I am educated, and I am nothing in the eyes of these people," said Ala'a Ahmed, standing in the hospital entrance as thousands of people raged outside. "We need our rights. We need to feel we have a voice, and by God we will make sure that we do."
Ambulances were prevented from arriving at the square. Several ambulance drivers claimed to have been beaten, and displayed bruising. They said they were threatened by members of the riot police that they could identify as non-Bahrainis. The protesters are incensed by what they see as the recruitment of large numbers of police officers from Sunni states in recent years by King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa and the prime minister of 40 years, Shaikh Khalfa bin Salman Al Khalifa, a member of the royal family; four-fifths of the 25-man cabinet are also members of the family.
Shia demonstrators believe the police recruits from abroad act as a proletarian guard for the regime. "I can pick their accents, and I sure know their loyalties," said Hussein Ismail, who was in the camp when it was assaulted. "They are the guards of the regime. They get all the privileges here, while we live like sub-humans."
Foreign ministers from the Gulf States were meeting in Bahrain in a scheduled get-together hijacked by the fast unravelling security situation.
Bahrain's foreign minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa was due to give a statement. He had said this week that deaths of two protesters on Monday and Tuesday were "catastrophic" for the regime.
Resentment was palpable among the crowds who sat vigil outside the hospital and morgue following the latest casualties.
Bahrain's military was deployed throughout Manama, and tanks and armoured vehicles blocked access to the abandoned Pearl Roundabout. A virtual curfew was in effect, with the military saying they would disrupt any public gatherings. Roads were mostly empty and its businesses almost all shut.
Organisers are not disclosing the location of Friday's planned rally, fearing that it would be quickly disrupted.
"We will keep hitting the streets until we get freedom and rights," said Ali Abbas, amid a bubbling crowd who were chanting and praying as they walked laps of the giant hospital car park. "The people will no longer listen to any calls for calm. They are raging, and they know that we can get things done. Egypt has taught us that. It is not a lesson we can forget."