Bahraini forces continue brutal attacks against people, US orders probe over human rights activist case
Bahrain forces have continued their brutal attacks on anti-regime protesters.
Clashes broke out in Sitra after security forces fired tear gas at the protesters. Forces also attacked demonstrators in the northern village of Tubli, southwest of the capital Manama, and the northeastern village of Nuwaidrat on Saturday.
The main Bahraini opposition party, al-Wefaq, said in a statement issued on Sunday that it is organizing an anti-government demonstration in front of the United Nations building in Manama on Tuesday evening.
Al-Wefaq organized a similar demonstration attended by hundreds of protesters in Tubli on Saturday. Hundreds of Bahrainis gathered in the demonstration called by the opposition in order to defy a ban by police.
The demonstration on the service lane of a highway leading to Manama was called for by four opposition groups, led by al-Wefaq.
Riot police blocked the roads leading to the assembly point in Tubli, southwest of the capital, forcing demonstrators to gather across the road, former MP Matar Matar told Agence France Presse.
Sheikh Ali Salman, who heads the main opposition formation al-Wefaq, appeared along with leading opposition figures among the protesters.
Salman later told demonstrators to go home after fruitless negotiations with the police, saying that the "message was delivered," Matar said.
US urges abuse probe
Bahraini government continued its brutal suppression against pro-democracy protesters. The US has called on Bahrain to investigate the case of a prominent human rights activist who says he was beaten by security forces.
Opposition activists said that several security officers threw Nabeel Rajab, head of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, to the ground and beat him on the head, neck and back after a protest march on Friday.
Bahrain's interior ministry has denied those accounts, saying on its Twitter feed that police found Rajab "lying on the ground" and took him to the hospital for treatment.
Soon after leaving hospital, Rajab said he was attacked by riot police who were curbing protesters. He and other protesters hid in nearby homes waiting for things to calm down before leaving. “Maybe 25, 30 minutes later, I went out toward my car and they found me and attacked me,” said Rajab.
Officials from the US embassy in Manama met for about an hour on Saturday with Rajab, who had a cut beneath one eye and bruising on his face, a senior US official told the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity.
"We are very concerned about this case," said the senior US official who spoke on condition of anonymity, saying that if an investigation found the Bahraini police used excessive force against him, those responsible should be punished.
Victoria Nuland, US state department spokesperson, said in a written statement that embassy officials had raised Rajab's case with senior Bahraini officials and urged the government to carry out recommendations made by an independent commission that found Bahrain used excessive force in last year's crackdown.
