Bahrain people condemns excessive police force
Ahlul Bayt News Agency – Bahrain’s opposition on Wednesday condemned what it called the police’s use of “excessive” force during clashes with Shiite villagers commemorating the religious festival of Ashura (Imam Hussain martyrdom).
Clashes erupted overnight Tuesday as security forces pulled down Ashura banners erected in what police said were “undesignated areas” of Shiite villages outside Manama, witnesses said.
They said security forces of the kingdom, which has a Shia majority, fired buckshots to disperse protesting villagers, causing casualties.
Bahrain’s top Shia opposition formation, Al-Wefaq, condemned the “excessive use of force” to remove the banners and said the intervention amounted to “suppression of religious rituals”.
Police chief Tareq al-Hassan claimed that some banners carried political statements with no connection to Ashura, one of the holiest commemorations of the Shia faith.
Bahrain, a tiny but strategic US ally, has seen frequent unrest since a Shia-led uprising erupted four years ago demanding a constitutional monarchy.
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