Vicious crackdown in Bahrain

• Bahrain's sectarian divide deepened on Friday with a loyalist demonstration for the ruling Sunni royalty and vicious crackdown by the police on the majority Shia community demonstrating at the famous Pearl Roundabout, now a visible symbol of revolt in the shadow of Cairo's Tahrir Square.
• Eyewitnesses said security forces on Friday fired at hundreds of mourners heading towards the Pearl Roundabout, sending them scurrying for cover. It is not clear whether live rounds were fired. A list of casualties has not emerged so far.
• However, it is clear that the Bahraini government, does not want protesters to reoccupy Pearl Roundabout, preventing the structure from becoming the rallying point of a full blown pro-democracy movement.
• Though tiny in size, Bahrain is a major factor in international geopolitics, being home to the American navy's fifth fleet, and on account of its proximity to the Shia-dominated oil-bearing eastern provinces of the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
• As protests intensified, Kuwait on Friday emerged, as the second frontier in the pro-democracy campaign in the Gulf.
• At least five people, including a security officer, were injured, during clashes between Kuwaiti riot police and stateless Arabs, demanding rights.