A decade after 2011 protests, Bahrain suppresses all dissent By ISABEL DEBRE February 11, 2021 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — A decade after demonstrators massed in Bahrain’s capital to call for the downfall of their government in 2011, authorities continue to suppress all signs of dissent. Activists behind those turbulent days say the memory of the protests that threatened the Sunni monarchy’s grip on power is all but extinguished. But many live with the consequences. “That was the start of the dark era,” said Jawad Fairooz, an exiled former leader of the now outlawed Al-Wefaq Shiite political party, who was stripped of his nationality for his political work in 2012. Although many activists and protesters have escaped into exile or been imprisoned, the threat of dissent persists in this tiny kingdom with a majority-Shiite population off the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia.