By BRAD SPURGEON
Published: April 20, 2012
Perhaps no other Formula One race has been as politically charged and controversial as the Bahrain Grand Prix that is to be run this weekend near Manama.
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Ahmed Jadallah/Reuters
Protesters chanted slogans after police used a stun grenade during an anti-government rally in Manama on Thursday.
More than a car race, the event has become a flash point in the battle between Bahrain’s ruling royal family and anti-government opposition groups, with Formula One and the sport’s governing body drawn in.
The monarchy has insisted that the race can unite the Gulf kingdom, visibly divided since protests began 14 months ago amid the region’s Arab Spring uprisings. The opposition wants the race stopped in protest of what it considers the regime’s monopoly on power and human rights violations.
Formula One, meanwhile, seeks to run the race to show that it will not be swayed by politics, terror threats and public criticism and that it will honor its contracts in even the most dire situations.
The statutes of the governing body of the series, the International Automobile Federation, say that the federation and its series “shall refrain from manifesting racial, political or religious discrimination in the course of its activities and from taking any action in this respect.”
In Bahrain, however, a political and religious storm is raging. The ruling family is Sunni Muslim and the majority of the kingdom’s population is Shiite. The protests that began in February 2011 have included Shiite claims of discrimination in the country, where Shiites say the best jobs and government posts go only to Sunnis.
Opposition groups say that nearly 70 people have been killed since the protests began. Rights activists said this week that there had been waves of arrests in recent weeks amid a crackdown leading up to the Formula One race, The Associated Press reported.
On Thursday, riot police fired tear gas and stun grenades at anti-government activists in Manama, and on Wednesday, security forces fired stun grenades at protesters who swarmed into a cultural exhibition for the Formula One race, setting off street battles and sending visitors fleeing for cover, The AP reported.
“The regime was isolated because of the crimes it committed and the Bahrain Grand Prix is giving a way out for the government, especially the royal family,” said Nabeel Rajab, president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. “We need this regime to be punished for the crimes it has committed in the past year and half.”
But under the slogan “UniF1ed — One Nation in Celebration,” the local organizer of the race — the government — has sought to promote unity and defuse security concerns.
For the monarchy — and for Formula One — there are also overriding economic concerns. The Grand Prix is the kingdom’s biggest sports event, drawing a worldwide television audience of roughly 100 million in nearly 200 countries, bringing in half a billion dollars in revenue and attracting thousands of visitors. When the race was canceled last year, Bahrain still had to pay Formula One a $40 million “hosting fee.”
So with the world watching and big money at stake, the government has hoped to use the race to demonstrate that life has returned to normal in Bahrain. But the media spotlight on the race in recent weeks has to some extent resulted in the opposite: a closer look at the political situation and the protesters and their claims of human rights abuses.
Jasim Husain, the former leader of the Bahrain opposition group Wefaq, said on a visit to the Formula One paddock on Thursday that for the protesters, the race “is an opportunity to raise awareness.”
Whether it likes it or not, Formula One is sitting in the center of the tumult. The last-minute decision to go ahead with the Bahrain race was made, the F.I.A. said last week, because the Gulf kingdom was deemed safe, regardless of political concerns or the almost daily, violent clashes.
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