At least one Bahraini protester was killed and scores injured Tuesday when clashes erupted as police stormed a sit-in supporting a top opposition cleric, eyewitnesses said.

Ayatollah Isa Qassim, the prominent Shia opposition leader, was sentenced on Sunday to a one-year suspended prison term on charges of illegal fund-raising.

A sit-in has been held in front of the cleric's home in the northern village of Duraz since June last year after Bahraini authorities revoked his citizenship.

A number of protesters have been arrested as part of the operation to clear the sit-in, the Bahraini Interior Ministry said on Twitter.

According to activists, security troops fired tear gas.

Protests have taken place intermittently in Bahrain since 2011, with demonstrators demanding political reform and equality, as part of the so called Arab Spring uprising.

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