More security force conflicts with protesters and al Khalifa control slips away

Bahrain police clash with protesters
Aug 25, 2011

Bahraini protesters wear masks to avoid being identified by regime forces. Saudi-backed Bahraini police have clashed with peaceful protesters who are demanding an end to the decades-long rule of the Al Khalifa regime in the country.

The clashes took place on Wednesday night in the village of Nuwaidrat where young men and women staged a protest rally to demand the downfall of the Al Khalifah regime, witnesses said. Saudi-backed police forces resorted to firing tear gas to disperse demonstrators after more people joined the protesters chanting anti-regime slogans.

Male protesters were wearing masks to avoid being identified by the police. Nuwaidrat was not the only village in Bahrain to see overnight anti-regime protests. Demonstrators in the village of Sanabis also took to the streets on Wednesday, chanting slogans against the rule of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

A separate demonstration also took place in the village of Dair.

Bahrainis have been holding anti-government rallies since mid-February, demanding the Al Khalifa dynasty to release its four-decade grip on power in the Persian Gulf country. Scores of people have been killed, many under torture in prison, and hundreds more have been arrested in a brutal crackdown on peaceful protesters in Bahrain, home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet.

In March, a number of Persian Gulf Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, deployed military forces to Bahrain in an attempt to assist Manama quell peaceful protests. …source