Torched Bank Warns Formula One Racing Into Bahrain Violence
Donna Abu-Nasr, ©2012 Bloomberg News
Thursday, April 19, 2012
April 19 (Bloomberg) -- The National Bank of Bahrain's branch in the town of Jidhafs is boarded up after it was firebombed twice in the week before the country hosts Formula One motor-racing. Across one of the shutters, attackers spray- painted the word: "Avoid."
Acts of violence have intensified in the run-up to the April 22 Grand Prix, the biggest international event in the island kingdom since a crackdown last year on pro-democracy protests led by the Shiite Muslim majority. Last year's race in Bahrain was canceled due to the clashes.
For Bahrain's Sunni rulers, hosting auto teams such as Mercedes and Red Bull and drivers including championship leader Lewis Hamilton is an opportunity to persuade investors that the unrest is in the past and the country is open for business. The wave of attacks undermines that argument and suggests tensions persist, with Shiite groups pledging to step up protests under the global media spotlight that Formula One brings.
Political unrest has already slowed growth in Bahrain and its escalation "would be a serious blow to the economy," Sergey Dergachev, who helps manage $8.5 billion of emerging- market debt at Union Investment Privatfonds in Frankfurt, wrote in an e-mail this week.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2012/04/19/bloomberg_articlesM2O1QX1A74E901-M2PU2.DTL
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