(AhlulBayt News Agency) - Regime forces fired live bullets and the internationally banned bird shot weapon on people who were staging a sit-in to defend Sheikh Qassem’s resident, Almanar reported.
Following the regime raid, people rushed to defend Sheikh Qassem’s resident, chanting “Allahu Akbara” (God is Greater).
Several citizens were injured in the attack, with some were in critical condition. Regime forces also arrested a number of people.
Later on, the regime forces withdrew the area but deployed more forces and vehicles to the outskirts of the town.
On June 20, Bahraini authorities stripped 79-year-old Qassem of his citizenship over his support for reform in the kingdom.
Over the past few weeks, demonstrators have held sit-in protests outside Sheikh Qassim’s home to denounce his citizenship removal.
Shortly after the Bahraini regime announced the executions on Sunday, angered protesters took to streets voicing rejection to crackdown against dissents and stressing that their trial was grossly unfair and relied on forced confessions.
Since February 14, 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis, calling on the al-Khalifa rulers to relinquish power.
In March that year, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, themselves repressive Arab regimes, were deployed to the country to assist Manama in its crackdown on protests. Hundreds of Bahraini activists have been imprisoned and suppressed.
Bahrain has also sentenced Sheikh Ali Salman, another revered opposition cleric, to nine years in prison on charges of seeking regime change and collaborating with foreign powers, which he has denied.
Sheikh Salman was the secretary general of the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, which was Bahrain’s main opposition bloc before being dissolved by the regime.
Things actually seem to be getting worse. The country’s only remotely critical newspaper, Al Wasat, which was shut down in 2011, has now been ordered by the government to close its online edition too after criticizing the executions.
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