Bahrain Protests intensify in face of continued Human Rights abuse from al Khalifa regime

Dozens of Bahraini protesters injured
Fri Dec 16, 2011 – PressTV

Saudi-backed Bahraini forces have attacked anti-government protests across the kingdom, injuring dozens of protesters demanding an end to the rule of Al Khalifa dynasty.

Bahraini activists say regime forces attacked protesters using knives in some villages near the capital, Manama on Friday after protesters blocked off several roads including the country’s main highway.

Government troops also arrested at least 13 teenagers in the northwestern village of Diraz for chanting anti-monarchy slogans, the opposition reported.

The nationwide rallies came one day after Bahraini forces killed a teenage protester in Abu Saiba town. Ali al-Kassab, 17, was killed on Thursday after he was run over by a police car.

Also on Thursday, regime forces detained prominent blogger and rights activist Zainab al-Khawaja for staging an anti-government sit-in at a roundabout on the Budaiya highway west of Manama.

She was handcuffed, dragged and beaten by the police after she refused to leave the sit-in site. Other protesters were dispersed after security forces fired tear gas and stun grenades. Maryam al-Khwaja, a prominent human rights activist and the daughter of a senior opposition figure, is now in police custody.

Bahrainis have been holding street protests demanding an end to the rule of Al Khalifa dynasty since mid-February. Peaceful demonstrators are attacked with live rounds and tear gas.

On November 23, the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry, set up to investigate reports of rights abuse during the crackdown, announced that the regime had used ”excessive force” to crush the uprising.

Bahraini opposition, however, say that nothing has changed since the government-authorized international investigation publicized last month found numerous human rights abuses. …source