Formula One faced intense pressure last night to abandon the Bahrain Grand Prix as teams arrived on the island kingdom for the controversial race in the face of escalating demonstrations from pro-democracy protesters.
Riot police fired stun grenades into about two hundred protesters near the old souk in the centre of the capital city of Manama yesterday. The protesters were led by Zainab al-Khawaja, the daughter of a hunger striker detained by the authorities in a military hospital. She is campaigning for the release of Abdulhadi, her father, who, she said yesterday, was on a drip and very weak.
She gave a victory sign as she stood only two feet from the line of riot police, armed with teargas and stun guns, who warned the