Mohammed Albuflasa, a former officer in the Bahrain Defence Force, disappeared after he gave an evening speech at the roundabout calling for national unity between Sunnis and Shia, and expressing support of the protests.[7] The speech was noteworthy because Mohammed is a religiously conservative Sunni Muslim, whereas most of the protesters were Shia or secular Sunnis.[8] The government first acknowledged on 4 March that he was in their custody.[7]