Iranian demonstrators took to the streets Friday and shouted "Death to Al Khalifa in Bahrain" and "Death to America," to condemn the violent crackdown by the US-backed Al Khalifa regime's forces on the peaceful protesters, IRNA reported.
The demonstrators also carried placards with slogans denouncing the arrogant powers and their despotic lackeys in the region, and expressed their wrath at Saudi Arabia's deployment of military forces in Bahrain to quell anti-regime demonstrations.
On March 13, Saudi-led forces were dispatched to the Persian Gulf island at Manama's request to quell the countrywide protests.
The Al Khalifa regime has come under increasing criticism after Saudi-backed Bahraini forces killed a 14-year-old teenage boy, Ali Jawad, at the end of August and arrested clerics Sayyed Mohammad al-Alawi and Sheikh Abdul Adim al-Mohtadi in Manama.
Jawad was killed just three days after a televised speech by Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, in which he announced a decision to pardon demonstrators arrested during the popular uprising that began in mid-February and promised to reinstate employees and students who were dismissed for participating in anti-regime protests.
Immediately after the speech, however, demonstrations were held by Bahrainis, who deemed the remarks an insult to the hundreds of political activists held in regime prisons and the majority of the Bahraini people, who have turned against the US- and Saudi-backed Al Khalifa rule.
On Friday, thousands of Bahraini demonstrators staged a protest rally near Manama, pressing ahead with their demand for an end to the Al Khalifa regime's rule.
The rally, dubbed as "Friday of demonstration" and organized by the country's largest opposition bloc, al-Wefaq, was intended to demonstrate that protesters would not back down from their demands.
The event came shortly after senior Bahraini cleric, Sheikh Isa Qassim, said that the government's harsh crackdown on anti-regime protesters has strengthened their resolve to fight for their rights and that the use of ''politics of fear'' by authorities has failed to silence Bahrainis.
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