"ملف 9/4 إصلاحات البحرين. تطبيق الإصلاحات في البحرين" [ظ‎‎٤‎٢] (٢٢٤/١٠١)

excited the Naidis and I Lad to order him to go into his office and remain tiere,
arorder Which he resented, but for the moment obeyed. He reappeared later m
the° ame state of excitement and I again had to severely warn him.
■ A ,V tW bazaar until all was quiet, and several shops had re-opened.
I remained '" the bazaar un^ ^ gha . k binEagawho had come
On my return to tl 8 e ^ gureB to be adopted. It was agreed to have a meeting
to consult me a. t leaders were to be asked, with a view to easing the
that ®.v enin £^ b jj^ concerMd were waiting for Shaik Hamad in the evening
Situation, v. Jme ^ Q osaibi sudden i y left the Agency petulantly, and
(he had been delaye ) ^ meeting. He was followed and brought back by
sa'd he would n j ti followed our efforts were frustrated by
Yusu Kanoo. At thBa meeting of discussing measures to
Qosaibi who va . ^ , t j rac i e against the Persians. I warned both
prevent distur )ance|^^^ personally responsible in the event of a further
leaders that I . rticu i ar i y accused the town watchmen, who are mainly
outbreak. ^ ^ w ith Shaik Hamad's consent, that it would be better for them lo
I ersians, 1 decid ^ ^ ^ gerved as to the Najdis to rc-
the barrel In anf case they could not control the situation and would
nnbhsed Shaik Hamad ordered them to lodge their guns m the Agency,
hardly be unb < a ^ ion ^ Qosaibi) boweverj no caS e of shot gun wound has been
discovered and I do not think the police used their guns at all in the disturbance.
Had they done so it might perhaps not have occurred on so large a scale.
The following morning (11th) I passed through the bazaars and all was quiet,
T ater events occurred which are described by Mr. Macfee in his statement. I
should here like to mention that his prompt handling of the situation which arose
™doubtedlv prevented a further outbreak. On receiving news of these occurrences
I again went to the bazaar and found Mr. Macfcie had controlled the situ dion.
t {oull d Shaik Sclman at the Customs surrounded by fidawis who had done nothing.
He asked me for advice and I accompanied him through the bazaar to instruct
r i • j ass ist to disperse the crowd. I enquired of Qosaibi the cause of
disturbances before my arrival. He declared that the Persians had been and still
were coUected In certain Khans, heavily armed. Shaik Selman and I, taking
Oo'aibi with us, visited these Khans. We found no gatherings and no arms. I
then visited Qosaibi's premises where there were a number of iSajdis armed with
lathis I had them sent away. His private house contained about 15 Najdis
armed with rifles and swords. These, he explained, were messengers etc. from
Bin Saud who were guests in his house and had not quitted it. On my return ^ 0 ^
Agency I learned that a disturbance was m progress at Muharraq, and that ISa^dis
were Hawasing " in front of the houses of Shaikhs Easa and Hamad ihe
Shaik had ordered that no boats be allowed to leave Muharraq for Manameh, but
could not control the Najdis who seized boats. At about noon five large boats
crowded with Naidis, all armed and many with magazine rifles, were observect
coming from Muharraq. 1 sent to Shaik Selman to take steps to stop them
landing. Meanwhile instead of proceeding to the Customs pier the boats drew m
at the Agency. The occupants carried flags and were Hawasmg and hrmg
rifles. As their intentions were not clear, I fell in the detachment, out of their
sight. They were disembarking, when Qosaibi, who had been sent by Snaik
Selman to. dissuade them, arrived. He argued for some time but appeared uname
to control them and they were pressing past him to the shore. ^ Realizing that tne
result of their landing in the Persian residential quarter and the fact that there were
Persians in the Agency, might be serious, I ordered the detachment to take up a
position conspicuously along the sea wall of the Agency and sent a m ess ageto
Qosaibi, drawing his attention to the fact that the soldiers were prepared and thai;
I would take action if they landed within Agency limjts. As was anticipated this
brought them to their senses and they re-embarked for Muharraq Meanwhile
two other boat-loads from Hidd had landed near the Wireless. I ordered Qosaibi,
who was by this time genuinely alarmed at the Najdis being out of his effective
control, to take immediate steps to turn them back which, with the example of the
other boats returning to Muharraq, he was able to do. For the remainder of the
day very wild rumours were afloat and the situation was not improved by the
Sunnis of Budiayeh and Rafa seizing the opportunity to make an attack on the
Shiah village of'Ali.