Rallies Held in Bahrain in Support of Senior Shiite Cleric
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Hundreds of people staged rallies across Bahrain to express solidarity with prominent Bahraini Shiite cleric Sheikh Issa Qassim and condemn the Al Khalifah regime’s recent decision to strip him of his citizenship.
Bahrainis took to the streets under the motto of “Friday of Sacrifice” in the villages of Ma'ameer and Karzakan, the town of A'ali, and the islands of Sitra and Nabih Saleh, holding up the portraits of the 79-year-old spiritual leader of the main Shiite opposition group, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society.
The protesters also carried placards reading “Stop sectarian violence in Bahrain”, and “We will only bow to God.”
Bahraini regime forces then intervened and fired tear gas canisters to disperse the crowds.
Elsewhere in the town of al-Zahra, Bahraini troops raided a house and arrested two men in their early 20s, Press TV reported.
Also on Friday, Bahraini demonstrators attended a protest against the revocation of Sheikh Qassim’s nationality outside his residence in the village of Diraz near the capital Manama.
