Peninsula Shield Force
At the 2010 Bahraini general election, Al Wefaq won 18 seats, Al-Menbar won 2 seats and Asalah won 3 seats. 17 seats were won by independents. Two months later, the Arab Spring protests that started in Tunisia, spread to Bahrain in February 2011 with the start of the Pearl uprising. In a brutal crackdown, backed by 1,500 troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as part of the Peninsula Shield Force, the government cleared the main protest site at the Pearl Roundabout. All 18 members of Al-Wefaq resigned from the Council in protest at governmental actions during the uprising and the party was temporarily banned. The vacant seats were won by independents in the subsequent by-elections.