Bahrain, February 16: The crisis in Bahrain has taken a new turn after the main opposition party quit the parliament in protest to the killing of anti-government protesters by the police.
Bahrain was rocked by a second day of anti-government protests, inspired by revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Thousands have taken to the streets across the Persian Gulf kingdom.
A new footage documents the use of live bullets against protesters that demand the ouster of Bahrain’s King.
Protesters are still out in the streets. They have occupied a central roundabout in the capital, Manama. A funeral procession for a protester that was killed on Tuesday will be held on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the situation in Bahrain appears to deteriorate. The US has expressed concern about the uprising in the kingdom. Washington, the prime sponsor of the despotic kingdoms in the Persian Gulf, has called on all sides to practice restraint.
The demonstrators say the ruling Sunni minority shuts them out of housing, healthcare and government jobs.
The protesters called for a “Day of Rage” on Monday to mark the 10th anniversary of the National Action Charter, which ushered in a new Bahraini constitution.
London-based rights group Amnesty International has recently issued a report on Bahrain’s human rights problems, pointing to arrests and torture of opposition figures.
A September report by the rights group stated that Bahraini authorities detained 23 opposition activists and held them “incommunicado for two weeks during which some allege they were tortured.”
———Agencies