Manama, March 18: Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy detained at least seven prominent opposition activists on Thursday, and Iran recalled its ambassador to protest the Gulf troops backing the government against the Shia protests that forced martial law-style rule in the island nation.
Clashes broke out in a village on the outskirts of the capital Manama. In Brussels, the European Union and Nato urged Bahrain to refrain from violence and try to settle the crisis through dialogue.
But Bahrain’s ruling system — which once appealed for negotiations — now appears to be shifting to efforts to crush the opposition. Bahrain’s crackdown widened with the detention of at least seven activists, a rights group and relatives of the arrested said.
Bahrain has imposed a three-month emergency rule that gives the military wide powers to battle the prodemocracy uprising that began in mid-February in the strategic nation, which hosts the US navy’s 5th Fleet.
Security forces had an overwhelming presence in parts of central Manama, a day after overrunning a protesters’ camp at Pearl Square and clashing with Shias elsewhere. On Thursday, riot police fired tear gas on several dozen protesters trying to organize a march in the mostly Shia Manama suburb of Jidhafs, which is less than 1km from Pearl Square.
-Agencies