On Monday we ran a story about Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the king of Bahrain, granting each family in his kingdom R20k. We suggested he was doing this in an attempt to prevent the political unrest in Egypt from spilling over to his country. But apparently the people of Bahrain are bigger Tracy Chapman fans than we thought, as they are now also “talkin’ ’bout a revolution.”

It is reported that police stormed a protest camp in central Manama earlier today, killing three people in a swift move to prevent protesters from emulating Egyptians whose Tahrir Square protests helped to topple Hosni Mubarak. This is in response to thousands of overwhelmingly Shi’ite protesters, emboldened by uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, who took to Bahrain’s streets on Tuesday to demand more say in the Gulf Arab kingdom where a Sunni Muslim family rules over a majority Shi’ite population.

Perhaps the population have cottoned on to the fact that the eye-watering revenue garnered from oil and pearl expert has been used in large part for the following exercises:

Meeting MJ ain’t cheap!

That’s a lot of bling for one man

Sharp!

Now might be a fantastic time to empty those Swiss bank accounts, Your Highness.

[Source: Reuters]