SHAFAQNA – On Thursday evening, protesters took to the streets in the northwestern village of Bani Jamra, chanting slogans in protest at the deaths of 29-year-old Rida al-Ghisra, Mahmoud Yahya, 22, and 35-year-old Mostafa Abedali, whom regime forces shot dead off Khalifah Bin Salman Port, east of the capital Manama, at dawn.
The protesters carried banners and photos of the trio, and shouted slogans against Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifah. They held the monarch fully responsible for the killings.
Skirmishes broke out when Manama regime forces intervened and fired tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd. There were no immediate reports of casualties and arrests.
Similar rallies were also held in al-Musalla village on the western outskirts of the capital and Bilad al-Qadim suburb of Manama, where the demonstrators voiced their outrage over the killings and demanded justice for the victims.
Bahrain’s Interior Ministry said on Thursday that authorities had killed three people and arrested seven others during an operation to apprehend fugitives following the January 1 storming of Jaw prison.
Thousands of anti-regime protesters have held demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis ever since a popular uprising began in mid-February 2011. They are demanding that the Al Khalifah dynasty relinquish power and let a just system representing all Bahrainis be established.
Manama has gone to great lengths to clamp down on any sign of dissent. On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to assist Bahrain in its brutal crackdown.
Scores of people have lost their lives and many others got arrested as a result of the crackdown.