Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): Thousands of Bahrainis took to the streets across the Kingdom of Bahrain on Friday (August 12, 2016), denouncing the recent oppressive measures taken by the authorities against the Shiite citizens in the country. Demonstrators further stressed on their calls for democratic reform and putting an end to the ruling Al Khalifa family's monopoly over power.

Thousands of protestors marched around the house of the country's Shia spiritual leader Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim, who was stripped of his nationality last June. Crowds chanted slogans against the King, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, demanding that the government immediately stop the targeting of Sheikh Qassim and Shia religious rituals.

In the Island of Sitra, security forces clashed with protestors who were expressing their refusal of the "government attack on the Shiite majority," and accusing Saudi Arabia of standing behind this crackdown.

Government forces fired sound grenades and tear gas canisters into residential areas, while pursuing fleeing demonstrators.

Despite the ongoing crackdown, the open-ended rally held outside Sheikh Isa Qassim's home carries on, as the authorities continue their campaign of arrests againsts the rally participants, including prominent Shia clerics.

Arabic Version