Thousands of supporters of Bahrain’s largely Shia Muslim opposition demonstrated peacefully yesterday near Manama, calling for democratic reform, witnesses said.
Demonstrators, carrying the national flag, marched along a road linking several Shia villages west of the capital, chanting slogans.
The demonstration, held ahead of Bahrain’s National Day celebrations tomorrow, was called by opposition groups after a ban on organising protests was lifted earlier this week.
The opposition said afterwards that it “will not stop without a true democratic process”.
Bahrain was shaken by a protest movement in February 2011 led by Shias.
At least 80 people have died since the start of the unrest, according to the International Federation of Human Rights.
Last week, Bahrain’s crown prince made a renewed appeal for dialogue to end the political impasse, which was welcomed by the opposition, but there seems to be no end in sight to increasingly violent protests.
