Just hours after reality TV star Kim Kardashian gushed about her impressions of Bahrain, riot police fired tear gas to disperse more than 50 hard-line Islamic protesters denouncing her presence in the Gulf kingdom.

The building of the largest Catholic church in the Gulf was supposed to be a chance for the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain to showcase its traditions of religious tolerance in a conservative Muslim region where churches largely operate under heavy limitations.

SAUDI ARABIA has sent troops into Bahrain to help put down weeks of protests by the Shi’ite Muslim majority, a move opponents of the Sunni ruling family called a declaration of war.