Shoot first, then talk

摘要

BILLBOARDS covering the Bahraini capital, Manama, shout, "Our Bahrain, our unity". If only. After months of brinkmanship and repression by the government, talks with dissidents aimed at dealing with their demands for political change in the tiny Gulf kingdom were never going to be easy. Within hours of the opening ceremony on July 2nd, protesters chanting "dialogue is suicide" charged a police checkpoint on the city's outskirts. They were driven back by rubber bullets and tear gas, but sporadic protests have continued and tensions remain high.