(AP) MANAMA, 22 April 2012
Bahrain - Under heavy security, Bahrain’s embattled leaders toasted the return Sunday of the coveted Formula One Grand Prix even as riot police used armored vehicles to virtually seal off opposition strongholds and fight hit-and-run clashes in the Arab Spring’s longest-running street battles.
The contrasts put the Gulf kingdom’s divisions in stark relief: The Sunni rulers basking in the F1 glamor at the desert circuit while security forces imposed lockdown tactics against Shiite neighborhoods at the heart of the more than 14-month-old uprising.