Hundreds of Bahrainis stage anti-regime protests

Rasa - Hundreds of Bahrainis have staged anti-regime protests across the Persian Gulf kingdom against the Al Khalifah regime’s crackdown on dissent.

News ID: 436515

Date: 20 February 2018 - 20:51

RNA - Protesters held placards and chanted slogans against the Al Khalifah regime and called for immediate release of political prisoners.

The regime forces, however, used tear gas to disperse the crowd in the village of Ma’ameer.

The protesters also expressed solidarity with prominent opposition figures, including Shia clerics Sheikh Isa Qassim and Sheikh Ali Salman.

According to Press TV, Sheikh Isa Qassim is now living under house arrest since Manama revoked his citizenship in June 2016, prompting protests and sit-ins in his home-town of Diraz.

The rallies came two days after Bahraini people marked the seventh anniversary of their popular uprising with massive protests across the country. Police used tear gas against the demonstrators in several areas, injuring several of them in the ensuing clashes.

Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since the uprising began in the capital Manama in mid-February 2011 and snowballed into a full-fledged movement sweeping the whole Shia-dominated country. They demand that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and let a just system representing all Bahrainis be established based on political reforms and equality.

Manama has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to assist Bahrain in its crackdown.

Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries as a result of the Al Khalifah regime’s crackdown.

Bahrain has also stripped hundreds of its citizens of their nationality, and has jailed dozens of high-profile activists and religious clerics over the past seven years.

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