AhlulBayt News Agency (ABNA): Mercenary elements and civilian militias affiliated with Bahrain's Ministry of Interior imposed a strict security siege on the town of Al-Dair to prevent Shia Muslims from holding the central Friday prayer for the eighty-fifth consecutive week.
From the morning of Friday, May 29, 2026, the mercenary elements, along with military vehicles and armed forces, reinforced their presence around the Imam Sadiq (a.s.) Mosque, while being on alert for the start of a popular demonstration protesting the war that the Khalifa regime has waged against the Shia in Bahrain.
Despite this security siege, popular demonstrations took place in many areas of Bahrain, with protesters calling for the cleansing of prisons and the immediate release of religious scholars and political prisoners. They also condemned the ruling regime's ban on holding Friday prayers and emphasized their rejection of official domination over religious affairs and the continuous pressure on religious freedoms.
The Bahraini people also rejected the government's theft of Shia endowments and the assault on all sanctities, figures, institutions, and principles of the Ja'fari school of thought. They called for an end to the policies of discrimination and sectarian suppression, as well as the siege imposed on the rites of the Shia community.
They also reaffirmed their position in support of the Islamic Republic of Iran in its battle for deterrence against American-Zionist aggression and declared their loyalty to the martyr of the Islamic Revolution, Imam Sayyed Ali Khamenei.
Protesters called for an end to the U.S. presence and the expulsion of foreign military bases to achieve full sovereignty and internal security. They also emphasized the necessity of ending the normalization agreement with the Zionist enemy, expelling the occupiers' ambassador from the country, and closing their embassy in Manama.
Bahraini authorities have banned the holding of central Friday prayers since October 4, 2024. This action followed the people's insistence on holding a memorial ceremony for the martyred Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah in Lebanon, as well as holding demonstrations in support of the Islamic resistance fronts in Lebanon, Palestine, and Yemen, and in protest of normalization agreements with the Zionist regime.
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