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Ma'ameer ( ar, المعامير) is a village in
Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
. Nationally, the village is known for its Industrial Area, which consists of the
Bahrain Petroleum Company The Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) is an integrated national oil company of Bahrain. History The BAPCO was established in 1929 in Canada by Standard Oil Company of California for oil exploration activities in Bahrain. It took over Bah ...
(BAPCO) refinery and a large number of factories, production units such as Awal Ready-mixed Concrete (ARMCON), Eastern Asphalt, Gulf Petrochemical Industrial Corp (GPIC), Aluminium Bahrain and Al Zamil Aluminium. Villagers have long complained of health problems as a result of
pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...
from the Industrial Area.


History


Ma'ameer during the 2011-2012 uprising

Since the start of the 2011-2012 Bahraini uprising, unrest became more common in villages containing large Shia population, with Ma'ameer being one of those villages. Clashes between security forces and anti-government rioters and vandals continued throughout the uprising with riot police often being attacked by
Molotov cocktails A Molotov cocktail (among several other names – ''see other names'') is a hand thrown incendiary weapon constructed from a frangible container filled with flammable substances equipped with a fuse (typically a glass bottle filled with flammab ...
and blunt weapons. At least two people from the village died during the uprising.


Pollution

Villagers in Ma'ameer have long complained of air and sea pollution as a result of the factories present in the Industrial Area. Villagers allege that fumes, smoke and gases with strong smells, from the factories, have led to a spike in the number of long-term illnesses emerging in the village, and had also led to the death of several people in the village over the past years. They also allege that the discharge of waste from ALBA and GPIC factories into the sea, off the village's coast, has led to the death of aquatic life in the sea. Villagers have formed the Ma'ameer Environmentalist Committee (MEC) which actively campaigns, both in Bahrain and abroad, for greater pollution controls in the village and the country. The MEC regularly calls upon the Commission for the Protection of Marine Resources, Environment and Wildlife, which is responsible for the environment in the country, to take action over the pollution. In 2006, Bahrain's lower house of parliament ruled that BAPCO had to pay compensation to villagers who had skin allergy, cancer, miscarriages or other environment-related diseases. Parliament also ordered BAPCO to finance awareness campaigns and studies in the village.


See also

* Nuwaidrat * Sitra


References


External links


Ma'ameer village site
Populated places in Bahrain {{Bahrain-geo-stub