The global union movement is demanding that authorities in Bahrain immediately cease their violent repression of peaceful demonstrations and start talks with the trade union movement and other groups on the concrete demands they and the demonstrators have expressed.

Hundreds of police swept through the Pearl Roundabout in Manama in pre-dawn raids, killing at least two protesters and injuring some 70 more. Security forces blocked access to the Roundabout, stopping the evacuation of the dead and injured, and a temporary clinic there also was attacked and medical staff injured.

In a letter to the king of Bahrain, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka demands that the violence end and that the blocked streets be reopened. He also urged the king to:

…begin dialogue with civil society and opposition groups on disputed issues such as political participation, employment, employment and income that are at the root of this crisis.     

In the wake of the mass demonstrations in Egypt and Tunisia, workers and other groups are marching for political rights, social protections and better wages throughout the Middle East, most recently in Algeria, Iraq, Yemen, Jordan, Libya and Bahrain.