people. The US especially knows that the people are struggling for democracy in a peaceful way. All the journalists came and saw the people protesting peacefully, and they did not try to use any weapons...and they were only throwing roses." Sheikh Ali Salman, the head of Al Wefaq, said that "the military should withdraw from Bahrain, the military of Saudi Arabia, and this is a call to the Saudi king, King Abdullah." International bank staff were moved to Dubai amid the unrest. The Bahrain Stock Exchange did not open on 16 March following the state of emergency declaration, however, it reopened the following day as concerns arose of possible headwinds. Several hundred to a few thousand Saudi protesters in Qatif and nearby towns marched from 15 to 18 March in solidarity with the Bahraini protesters calling for the Peninsula Shield Force to be withdrawn from Bahrain. Al Arabiya showed a video of medics, who they said were aligned with the protesters, hitting injured ethnic Indian workers who had been hospitalised. According to it, foreign workers were being assaulted by protesters in order to undermine the national economy. Another video showed a group of protesters including some in a vehicle marked with a Red Crescent running over a policeman multiple times. Physicians for Human Rights received corroborating reports that in the weeks following the start of the protests in February government forces stole at least six ambulances and used them for military purposes, and that police posed as medics in order to get closer to protesters. One eyewitness reported seeing paramedics and ambulance drivers assaulted at Pearl Roundabout on 16 March. The International Committee of the Red Cross responded: "It is totally unacceptable to attack those providing medical care and to obstruct the safe passage of ambulances. All those taking part in the violence must safeguard medical personnel, medical facilities and any vehicle used as an ambulance. Health personnel ... must also be respected and allowed to carry out their life-saving work in safety." 18–20 March The Pearl Monument was demolished early on 18 March. The move was read as destroying an important symbol and focal point of the protest movement. Leading Shia cleric, Sheikh Isa Qassim, said during Friday prayers in Diraz that people were demanding their rights to political reform and that they "do not believe in violence that authorities are trying to push them to." He also backed