One dead in new Bahrain clashes

One man has died and at least 50 been injured when Bahrain security forces fired tear gas and pellets at anti-government protesters today, activists said.

The clashes came after a prominent Shiite cleric vowed that their demands for the Sunni monarchy to loosen its grip on power will not be silenced by “brutal force.”

Bahrain’s government, meanwhile, brushed aside suggestions for an international investigation into the deaths of protesters during the month of unrest or allegations that police attacked wounded protesters at a hospital.

Defying a ban on public gatherings, thousands of people poured out of Muslim prayer services at mosques in Shiite towns and demonstrated against the ruling Sunni dynasty, which has declared a three-month period of emergency rule and invited in a Saudi-led military force to help quell the unrest.

Riot police, backed by soldiers, released thick clouds of tear gas to disperse protesters in Shiite villages west of the capital. There were also protests in villages on the island of Sitra, the centre of Bahrain’s oil industry.

Isa Mohammed, a 71-year-old cancer patient, suffocated as a result of tear gas that wafted into his home in Maameer, on Sitra island, said Abdul Jalil Khalil, a senior member of the Wefaq opposition bloc.

Most of the injuries were from pellets of bird shot.