Distant rumblings of rebellion fail to halt Bahrain Grand Prix

Opponents have fought pitched battles with security officials, with claims surfacing that protester Salah Habib Abbas, 37, was killed by shotgun pellets fired by riot police on a rooftop during an overnight raid.

Last night, Channel 4 News said its foreign affairs correspondent Jonathan Miller and the rest of his reporting team had been arrested in Bahrain.

The broadcaster said they were working without proper accreditation because they had been denied journalist visas.

However, Mr Miller wrote on Twitter shortly after 11pm last night: “I’ve been released with my crew. Breakneck drive to Bahrain airport in police van. Being deported now.”

The race itself passed peacefully, despite rumours that members of the leading opposition party, al-Wefaq, had bought tickets and had planned a protest inside the track.

German Sebastian Vettel, for Red Bull, won the race.

Fahad al-Binali, a spokesman for the Bahrain Information Affairs Authority, said he was “surprised” some protesters had campaigned against the race, saying it had provided them with a platform to a global audience.

Foreign Secretary William Hague spoke to the foreign minister of Bahrain on Saturday to express the UK government’s “concern” about the violence.

He called on the Bahraini authorities for “restraint in dealing with protests, including during the Formula One race” and urged “further progress in implementing political reforms”.

Meanwhile, Mercedes and McLaren team bosses Ross Brawn and Martin Whitmarsh criticised British politicians for what they believed was a belated stance on the grand prix.

Mr Brawn said: “I find it very frustrating that politicians in the UK were saying we should withdraw once we got here. Why didn’t they say anything before?

“For somebody to try and make Jenson Button or Lewis Hamilton determine the foreign policy of the country is wrong.”

Prime Minister David Cameron resisted pressure to call for the event’s cancellation insisting it was a matter for the Formula One authorities.

Justice Secretary Kenneth Clarke said he did not think the race should be cancelled.

Speaking before the race, he said: “I deeply regret that someone appears to have been killed … but I don’t think the cancellation of the grand prix actually would make a very great deal of difference and I don’t think it’s a matter for politicians in Britain to decide whether to or not. Essentially, in the end it’s up to Formula One and the people who run the sport and the teams.”

Labour’s Peter Hain said he thought the “wrong judgment” had been made in staging the race at the moment.

He said: “I’m a Formula One fan myself, I strongly support the sport, but I think they made the wrong judgment in holding this race as a fixed part of the calendar at this time, when human rights abuses are very serious.”

Petrol bombs have been hurled at security officials, tyres set ablaze and anti-grand prix graffiti daubed on walls in ugly scenes which have marred the Gulf kingdom in recent days.