Yesterday the government tore down the famed Pearl Monument. It stood in the center of the capital's main roundabout, the center of the Pro-Democracy Reformer's Camp. The pearl really was beautiful; it was lit at night by colorful lights, had a fountain beneath it, and served as a national symbol - I am very sad it's gone.
According to this NY Times article, "The official Bahrain News Agency reported the change as a “face-lift” to “boost the flow of traffic.” But Bahrain’s foreign minister, Sheik Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa, said at a news conference, “We did it to remove a bad memory.” He added of the month-long anti-government rallies: “The whole thing caused our society to be polarized. We don’t want a monument to a bad memory.”
Pearl Square had become a tent camp with free food and a carnival atmosphere modeled on Tahrir Square in Cairo. But Bahraini troops forcefully cleared it on Wednesday. In removing the sculpture, the country cost itself a landmark designed to honor the six gulf states whose economic life was based, before oil, on pearls. The six, including Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, make up the Gulf Cooperation Council — which sent in 2,000 troops in a show of force just before Bahrain’s own security forces moved to crush the protests."
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I remember reading that SA tore down the stone pillars that Moses set up at either end of the Red Sea so that people wouldn't be able to confirm the story...
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