'50 Bahraini activists arrested overnight'

’50 Bahraini activists arrested overnight’

01 April, 2011 11:31

’50 Bahraini activists arrested overnight’

Bahraini opposition groups say the Manama regime has arrested 50 activists overnight, just before the massive Friday anti-government protests in the country. The arrest took place on Thursday, a night before what Bahraini protesters have referred to as the â€œDay of Rage.â€ The protests are scheduled to take place after Friday Prayers.

The Bahraini protesters continue to demand the ouster of the 200-year-old-plus monarchy as well as constitutional reforms. At least 25 Â people have been killed and about 1,000 others injured during the government-sanctioned crackdowns on peaceful demonstrators.

Joined recently by police units and troops from Saudi and the United Arab Emirates, the Bahraini government forces have launched a deadly crackdown on the popular revolution that began to sweep the Persian Gulf island on February 14. The Saudi-backed forces have recently been sighted while destroying religious and historical monuments of the Muslim Persian Gulf state.

On Wednesday, the Human Rights Watch accused Bahraini forces of using violence against people that had already received injuries during earlier attacks.

The rights body said it had documented several cases in which the forces had “severely harassed or beaten” patients under medical care in the country’s Salmaniya hospital in Manama.

Protesters rally in a Bahraini village, condemning the recent death of a male teenager there at the hands of security forces.

Fifteen-year-old Sayed Ahmed died from a headshot in Sa’ar on Wednesday, Bahrain’s Al Wefaq political party announced on its page on the social networking website Facebook.

The party stated that the victim had gone out to play and tried uselessly to run away when he noticed the security forces closing in.

The crowd amassed in hundreds carrying overhead Ahmed’s coffin, plastered with the victim’s picture before and after the shooting.

Bahraini protesters continue to demand the ouster of the 200-year-old-plus monarchy as well as constitutional reforms.

Not counting the latest victim, at least 24 people have been killed and about 1,000 others injured during the government-sanctioned violence.

Also on Wednesday, the Human Rights Watch accused Bahraini forces of using violence against people that had already received injuries during earlier attacks.

The rights body said it had documented several cases in which the forces had “severely harassed or beaten” patients under medical care in the country’s Salmaniya hospital in Manama.

The Saudi-backed forces have recently been sighted destroying religious and historical monuments.