Bahrain hopes for normalcy with martial law lifted

Gulf Arab troops set to stay, no democracy talks in sightBy Andrew Rosetta Stone Language Hammond MANAMA, May 25 (Reuters) - Bahrain will lift a state ofemergency next week that was imposed when the governmentsuppressed a democracy protest movement in March with the helpof Saudi and other Gulf Arab forces. After two months of negative publicity around the world overits crackdown and a collapse of business and leisure tourism,Bahrain hopes for a return to normalcy on June 1, following theend of night curfew in Manama this week.Martial law was imposed in mid-March when the authoritiesbroke up a sit-in of thousands at a traffic roundabout inManama. Ending the emergency situation two weeks early, thegovernment hopes, will send the right signals to the outsideworld. But democracy activists say that while the ruling Al-Khalifafamily and the Sunni Muslim elite are keen for business toreturn, they have no intention of easing up on behind-the-scenesrepression of the majority Shi'ite population. They would be helped in that by a purge of people who tookpart in the protests and other Shi'ites in many companies overthe past two months. Clashes between police and protesters inShi'ite villages would be tolerable since the country has oftenexperienced such street unrest in the past and a media crackdownmakes it less likely to get reported. Some areas saw protests Rosetta Stone language software this week after a military courtupheld the death sentence against two people over the killing oftwo policemen. A boon for the government would be reinstating Bahrain inthis year's Formula One motor racing calendar, after it wasforced to postpone its grand prix scheduled for March. Thechampionship is due to take a decision on the issue on June 3. "Removing the curfew and ending the law earlier than thedefined period shows things are moving better than expected andlife is returning to normal," said Jamal Fakhro, deputy speakerof parliament. "Everybody is excited."U.S. President Barack Obama criticised Bahrain -- an allythat hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet and seen as a bulwark againstIran -- during a speech last week but pressure has been slight.U.S. and British warnings against travel to the country remain. "The only way forward is for the government and oppositionto engage in a dialogue and you can't have a real dialogue whenparts of the peaceful opposition are in jail," Obama said,outlining the U.S. approach to uprisings Rosetta Stone English sweeping the region.

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