Bahrain arrests six opposition leaders

Bahraini protesters marched towards the Saudi Arabian embassy in Manama, on March 15, 2011

Source : Press TV

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/170327.html

Bahrain has arrested six opposition leaders as the country plunges deeper into crisis following the arrival of foreign militaries to quell anti-regime protesters.

Hassan Mushaima of the Haq Movement, Abdel Wahhab Hussein from Wafa and Ibrahim Sharif from the Waad Society were among the six opposition leaders arrested by Bahrain's security forces on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Bahrain's Center for Human Rights said that regime forces surrounded Hassan Mushaima's house before taking him to an unknown location. Ibrahim Sharif was also arrested.

The move came just after the leader of main opposition Al Wefaq party called on the people to continue to demand their rights.

Sheikh Ali Salman urged protesters to continue their peaceful uprising despite Manama's use of violence against them. He said the peaceful nature of the uprising will help defeat the "dictatorship prevailing in the country."

Meanwhile, Khalil Marzouk, deputy head of the and a member of parliament, said that killings and violent raids on peaceful demonstrators have made the situation more "catastrophic" with hospitals closed off and Shia villages surrounded.

The Bahraini opposition blames the island's Sunni-dominated kingdom of killing protesters in the violent raid on a peaceful pro-democracy camp that sparked Shia outrage across the region.

Bahrainis have a just cause to claim their dignity through the election of a national government, Marzouk said.

The military has imposed a curfew in most parts of the capital and banned all public gatherings and demonstrations across the country.

On Wednesday morning, Bahraini police killed at least five protesters and injured dozens more as they assaulted a peaceful protest camp in Manama's Pearl Square.

The mortalities added to the death toll from Tuesday where six people were killed and more than 1,000 others injured in clashes between anti-regime protesters and security forces.

On Sunday, [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council members -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar -- dispatched troops to Bahrain to help quash anti-government protests.