Bahrain protesters battle police a day before F1 race
Protesters are seen on a street after setting fire to garbage containers during clashes with riot police in Budaiya, west of Manama April 19, 2013.
REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed
By Alexander Dziadosz
MANAMA | Sat Apr 20, 2013 1:37pm EDT
(Reuters) - Bahraini protesters clashed with police on Saturday, a day ahead of a Formula One race that the island kingdom's opposition hopes will draw attention to its campaign for democracy.
Young men blocked roads, burned tires and threw rocks at security forces who fired teargas in several villages around the capital Manama on Saturday afternoon and evening after similar clashes on Friday, human rights activists and witnesses said.
Such skirmishes have occurred almost nightly in Bahrain for the last two years, and the opposition has called for more protests in the run-up to the Grand Prix, which many in the Shi'ite-majority country accuse the Sunni-led government of using to disguise political dysfunction and human rights abuses.
The government says it respects human rights abuses and that any reports of wrongdoing by its security forces are investigated.
Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman al-Khalifa disputed the characterization of the Grand Prix as a spectacle used by the government to disguise human rights abuses.
"We've never used this race to say that everything's fine. We recognize there are issues in the country, but they are to be solved through a political process, which is well under way," he told reporters at the Sakhir desert circuit in rare comments to the media.
He said the government supported peaceful protesters but did not want to encourage "extreme" elements within the opposition that used violence to further their aims.
Sayed Yousif al-Muhafda from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights said he believed protests and clashes broke out in nearly 20 villages on Saturday.
In about 10, protesters scuffled with security forces, who fired tear gas and bird shot to disperse them, he said.
Police also repulsed protesters in four villages trying to march toward the site of the Pearl Roundabout, where demonstrators had gathered during the uprising in 2011 but has since been destroyed, he added.
Muhafda estimated about eight protesters were injured on Friday, one with bird shot and another with a tear gas canister.
NIGHTLY UNREST
A Reuters witness said a few dozen young men threw rocks at police and blocked roads in the Sanabis neighborhood west of the capital. Police responded with tear gas.
Opposition activist Ala'a Shehabi said she was at the Sanabis protest when police fired sound bombs and tear gas at protesters, who responded by throwing "everything they could get their hands on," including sticks, stones and rubbish.
She said there had been several arrests but could not say how many exactly.
There were also protests reported in the Budaiya area, where the Shi'ite-led opposition staged a rally on Friday afternoon that drew thousands of protesters demanding democratic reforms.
The tiny nation - only about a quarter the size of Luxembourg - has been hit by unrest since pro-democracy protests started in February 2011. The Formula One race was canceled that year amid the violence.
A government-commissioned report said 35 people died during the uprising. The opposition puts the death toll much higher.
Bahrain pays an estimated $40 million a year to host the Formula One race, which Justice Minister Khalid al-Khalifa said last week should not be "politicized."
Bahrain's Information Minister Samira Rajab said the recent clashes were "the normal sort" and opposition reports about them sought to inflate their significance.
"They are trying to exaggerate for the media before the Formula One race. They are working very hard to show a bad image of Bahrain," she told Reuters.
Throughout the unrest, the United States has voiced support for its ally, which hosts its navy's Fifth Fleet and which it sees as a key ally in the regional struggle between Sunni power Saudi Arabia and Shi'ite Iran.
The Bahraini government denies it discriminates against Shi'ites or abuses detainees and says it arrests suspects in accordance with the rule of law.
(Writing by Alexander Dziadosz,; Editing by Angus McDowall and Stephen Powell)
