Clashes break out in Bahrain over criticism of Shiite clergyman

Aug 26, 2011, 5:01 GMT

Manama - Clashes between Bahraini protesters and police broke out in the capital, Manama, and Shiite villages over recent government criticism of a key Shiite clergyman and the banning of the Quds Day celebrations for the second year in a row.

The clashes began late Thursday and lasted into early Friday. Internet activists reported several injuries and arrests among the protesters.

Minister of Justice and Islamic Affairs Sheikh Khalid bin Ali al-Khalifa sent a letter Monday to the country's top Shiite clergyman, Sheikh Isa Qassim, accusing him of stoking sectarian tensions and violence.

The letter accused Qassim of using his Friday prayer sermons to call on supporters to boycott next month's parliamentary by-elections.

News of the letter's content angered leading Shiite clergymen who interpreted it as an insult and indirect threat to Qassim. They vowed to stand by him and called on their followers to join them in a unified Friday prayer to be led by him in Duraz village, north Manama.

The leading Shiite opposition group, al-Wefaq, which considers Qassim its spiritual leader, on Tuesday reiterated calls to boycott next month's by-elections.

Al-Wefaq vacated its 18 parliamentary seats in a mass resignation in February to protest the killings of pro-reform demonstrators by security forces.

Protests demanding political reform and greater freedoms in Sunni-ruled, Shiite-majority Bahrain began on February 14.

All the leading opposition groups, including liberal leftists, announced their intension to boycott the elections in recent days, demanding that real reforms be introduced.

The overnight protests were also fueled by anger over the banning of the Quds Day celebrations.

Quds Day is observed on the last Friday in the month of Ramadan, to express solidarity with the Palestinian people. The late leader of the Iranian revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, called for the annual rallies shortly after taking power in 1979.

Bahrainis have been marking the event since the 1980s, and the Quds Day rallies in recent years had attracted thousands.