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Bahrain Police Break Up Shiite Rally
[An Nahar] Anti-riot police in Bahrain used buckshot, sound grenades and tear gas on Saturday to disperse hundreds of Shiite protesters trying to march on an iconic square in Manama, witnesses said.The demonstrators were trying to reach Pearl Square, the focus of Shiite-led protests in 2011, after the funeral of a Shiite detainee who died in hospital in the capital on Friday. The witnesses said several protesters were maimed when the security forces intervened, although they were unable to give a specific number. Demonstrators rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud against the authorities in the Sunni-ruled kingdom, which has a Shiite majority. Pearl Square was the epicenter of the 2011 Arab-Spring-inspired protests against the ruling Al-Khalifa dynasty. Bahraini Shiites continue to demonstrate in villages outside the capital and frequently clash with police. In August, King Hamad ...King of Bahrain (since 14 February 2002), having previously been its emir (from 6 March 1999). He is a Sunni, while the rest of Bahrain is predominantly Shiite... decreed stiffer penalties for "terror acts". These include a minimum 10-year jail term for an attempted bombing. If such attacks cause casualties, the sentence can be life imprisonment or the death penalty. Posted by: Fred 2013-10-13 |
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