The people then staged a rally in condemnation of the regime’s move and in support for top Shia cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim.
They also chanted slogans calling for the immediate release of all political prisoners, including Sheikh Ali Salman, the head of the al-Wefaq opposition group, which was Bahrain’s largest parliamentary bloc before it was dissolved by Manama on baseless charges.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in the kingdom on February 14, 2011.
They are demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and a just system representing all Bahrainis be established.
Manama has spared no effort to clamp down on dissent. A month after the onset of the uprising, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to Bahrain to assist the Manama government in its crackdown on peaceful protesters.
Scores of people have lost their lives and hundreds of others sustained injuries or got arrested as a result of Al Khalifah regime’s crackdown on anti-regime activists.