Ms Packwood, CEO of Business Bermuda, said she feels safe but “grieves” for the people who were killed. She was part of a delegation invited to speak at the Capital Club to encourage more companies to do business in and with Bermuda. The capital city of Manama has been full of protests this week as the majority Shi’ite population protests discrimination by the ruling Sunni government. There are four confirmed deaths with the BBC reporting an additional 231 people were wounded when police broke up the main protest camp. The army moved in with barricades to keep the streets blocked as tanks rolled through the capital city. The Business Bermuda group twice had to drive through Pearl Square, the epicentre for protests, as they attended a scheduled meeting with Bahrain’s movers and shakers. Ms Packwood and her colleagues were in lockdown at their hotel. She said: “It was exciting — it was amazing to be witnessing history in the making. The people had a sense of excitement and of anticipation. Families were out — everybody was out. “It’s very exciting and we’re all talking about it.” Ms. Packwood’s son Harouna Gaido accompanied her on the trip and celebrated his 14th birthday while in Dubai. She told us from Bahrain: “He was so excited to be here witnessing history. There’s a lot of buzz about what’s going on, but I don’t feel unsafe — I don’t have any fear. There are all kinds of places in the world that get bombed, like Paris, the U.S., and we continue to travel to them. “I just very much grieve for the people who lost their lives today [Thursday], but I don’t feel in any danger at all. It’s all very surreal. We’re in a beautiful, lovely hotel while down the street there are people who are impoverished and are protesting for the same rights and privileges we enjoy.” Ms Packwood said from the hotel she could “see in the distance where the protests would be taking place, but my understanding is the streets are clear. “The streets have been barricaded and full of military. The injuries and the killings are very unfortunate. We passed through the Pearl Roundabout at midnight and everything was fine.” It was in the early hours of the morning when things got out of hand and saw the protestors killed and wounded. Though the Bermuda party was safe, “we’ve been in lockdown in the hotel all day. We’re going to be able to get out as the airport is not in lockdown and the flights are running. “The Internet’s been up and down. I’ve been able to Facebook on BlackBerry. Cellphones are working, but the Internet has been blocked or slowed down.” The Bermuda delegation included: Stuart Lacey of Alltree Financial, Nicolas Angio of Apex Fund Services and Belaid Jheenghoor of PwC. They had previously attended meetings in Dubai before heading to Bahrain. Thomas Kelly, former Bank of Bermuda representative and current Middle East Representative, organized the event plus ancillary meetings in Dubai and Bahrain. Ms Packwood said the group earned kudos for not cancelling it because of the unrest in Bahrain. “It spoke volumes for Bermuda. Everybody came out and said that. She said about 80 people attended the meeting on Wednesday night. “The meeting went very well. We waved the flag for Bermuda. We had more people show up last night, than had signed up, which was pretty amazing. “For a first time event, it was extraordinary, especially in this region. We were very, very pleased. “We met with the decision makers in the market. We didn’t go for numbers — we only invited about 100 people. We didn’t cast a huge net to get 200 or 300 people — we wanted the people who were actually going to make the decisions to send business to Bermuda.” She said after the meeting, there was a dinner with a select group of 18 guests to further discuss opportunities that lay in Bermuda. Most of the group members were scheduled to leave Bahrain early Friday morning. Ms Packwood said the trip to the airport, which would normally be a 10-minute drive, would take an hour as the Bermuda delegation would have to use alternative roads. By: Don Burgess Source: BDASUN Cheryl Packwood drove through Pearl Square in Bahrain just hours before riot police killed four protestors and wounded hundreds of others.
