Midsummer nights are steamy in Manama, and sweat glistened on thousands of faces as Sheikh Abdel-Latif Al Mahmoud boomed out a warning to Bahrain's citizens to stand guard against criminals and conspiracies.

Cries of "Allahu akbar" went up from a sea of red and white national flags and pictures of King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa – teenage girls in jeans alongside veiled women and heavily bearded men in dishdashas. "This land will not be sold," they chanted. "In spirit and blood we will redeem you, O Bahrain."

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