AhlulBayt News Agency - Thousands of Shiite citizens in Bahrain called for international protection from the sectarian oppression practiced by the ruling Al Khalifa family against them on Friday (March 4, 2016), stressing that the authorities follow a systematic policy of targeting the indigenous Shia population.
Thousands of Bahrainis staged protests west of the Bahraini capital, Manama, condemning the government's policies.
A report recently issued by UN special rapporteurs stressed that Shiites in Bahrain are subjected to discrimination and violence at the hands of official authorities and that discrimination has reached the extent of demolishing places of worship and other sites that show the presence of Shiite citizens in the country.
The report added that the authorities deliberately publish misleading information about the religious and cultural Shiite identity via the education and media systems and also use violence.
Protestors in the Diraz area held banners that read "We Demand International Protection". They also held photos of detained religious and political figures who have been imprisoned since 5 years ago for leading protests demanding to put an end to monopoly of the minority ruling family. The slogan "No for Sectarian Oppression" was also read on posters.
Bahrain's Minister of Interior Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa pledged during a meeting of Arab ministers of interior in Tunisia to confront "heterodox denominational doctrines" in his country, which is the same banner that the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) raises in its sectarian war waged against Shiites in Iraq, Syria and Gulf States.
