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Gigantic Anti-regime Demo Hits Bahrain, Blast Kills Policman

Gigantic Anti-regime Demo Hits Bahrain, Blast Kills Policman
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Local Editor

A Bahraini policeman has died of wounds he sustained in a bomb blast during protests marking the anniversary of a 2011 Arab uprising, the interior ministry said on Saturday.

Gigantic Anti-regime Demo Hits Bahrain, Blast Kills Policman

The explosion struck in the village of Dair outside the capital Manama late on Friday and wounded "two on-duty policemen assigned to secure the road," including the one who later died, the ministry said on Twitter.

It was the second reported blast during the protests marking the third anniversary of the uprising by the Gulf state's majority for a constitutional monarchy in the kingdom.
Earlier, the ministry reported another explosion in the similarly-named village of Daih, which caused minor damage to a bus transporting police personnel, pictures posted on Twitter showed.

The blasts struck as protesters took to the streets in several areas of the small but strategic archipelago, which lies just across the Gulf from Iran and is home base to the US Fifth Fleet.
Villages have been at the forefront of the campaign among the majority community for the ruling al-Khalifa family to surrender its grip on all key cabinet posts in favor of an elected government.
Witnesses said that several protesters were wounded as police fired tear gas and bird shot to disperse them on Friday.

Protesters had gathered in several villages in an attempt to march on the capital's Pearl Square where demonstrators camped out for a month in early 2011 before being violently dispersed by troops.

This comes as Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassim called for a "gigantic" anti-regime demonstration to call for implementation of political reforms in the country.

Qassem said during the Friday Prayers that "a rally is waiting for you tomorrow. It is supposed to be expressive, effective and gigantic. Fully peaceful, highly civilized."
"The way to achieve the legitimate demands must be constant nonviolent with a significant level of effectiveness."
For its part, the interior ministry claimed: "Some villages saw rioting, vandalism and the targeting of policemen. This required police to respond to these criminal acts through legal means."
A total of 26 people "suspected of rioting and vandalism" were arrested on Friday, the ministry said. The arrests followed 29 on Thursday.

Amnesty International on Thursday condemned Bahrain's "relentless repression" of dissent and said it feared a violent crackdown on demonstrations marking the uprising anniversary.
The International Federation for Human Rights urged Bahrain "to take immediate measures to restore the rule of law, to put an end to ongoing human rights violations."

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team