Bahrain Government Bans Protests Amid Violence

Bahrain has banned all protests and gatherings amid clashes between police and anti-government demonstrators.

Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Al Khalifah said “repeated abuse” of the rights to freedom of speech and expression could no longer be accepted.

Protests would be permitted only once security and stability were sufficient to maintain national unity, he added.

Demonstrations were last banned during the three-month state of emergency King Hamad declared in March 2011.

The previous month protesters had occupied a prominent landmark in Manama, the now-demolished Pearl Roundabout, demanding more democracy and an end to what they said was discrimination against the majority Shia Muslim community by the Sunni royal family.

At least 35 people, including five police officers, were killed, hundreds were injured and thousands jailed in February and March 2011.

Since then, opposition and human rights activists say another 45 other people have been killed, a figure which the government disputes.

In the past two weeks, two policemen have died of injuries sustained during clashes with protesters in villages outside Manama.

Officials said the first was on patrol when a bomb exploded on 18 October; the second suffered burns after being hit by a Molotov cocktail in April. The authorities consider both incidents to be “terrorist” attacks.

BBC