International Quds Day marked across Bahrain

The demonstrators marched in various neighborhoods of the capital, Manama, on Friday, under the motto of “Revolutionaries’ Objective,” waving Palestinian flags and shouting anti-Israeli slogans.
 
They also chanted slogans in condemnation of the ruling Al Khalifah regime and its staunch regional supporter, the Al Saud dynasty of Saudi Arabia.
 
Similar rallies were also staged in the Wadyan Village of the island of Sitra, Nuwaidrat Village close to Sitra, the northern village of Abu Saiba located west of Manama as well as al-Musalla Village on the western outskirts of the capital.
 
The International Quds Day is marked annually on the last Friday of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan as designated by the late founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini.
 
Each year, millions of people around the world stage rallies on the day to voice their support for the Palestinian nation and repeat their call for an end to the Tel Aviv regime’s atrocities and occupation of the Palestinian territories.
 
The occupied Palestinian territories have been the scene of heightened tensions since August 2015, when Israel imposed restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds.
 
More than 220 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces since the beginning of last October.
 
Also on Friday, demonstrators marched through the streets of the village of East Eker and the island of Sitra to denounce the bomb attack that claimed the life of a woman and left three children injured earlier in the day.
 
Violence broke out when regime forces attacked the protesters and fired tear gas canisters and birdshots to disperse the marchers. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
 
Elsewhere in the northwestern village of Diraz, situated 12 kilometers (7 miles) southeast of Manama, protesters converged outside the home of prominent Bahraini Shia cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim, voicing their support for him and expressing protest at the Al Khalifah regime’s decision to strip the renowned clergyman of his citizenship.
 
The Al Khalifah regime’s June 20 move against Sheikh Qassim came less than a week after Bahrain’s Justice Ministry suspended al-Wefaq and dissolved the opposition Islamic Enlightenment Institution and al-Risala Islamic Association.
 
Since February 14, 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in Bahrain on an almost daily basis, calling for the Al Khalifah family 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 the Bahraini government in its crackdown on peaceful protests.
 
Scores of people have been killed and hundreds of others injured or arrested in the Bahraini crackdown on the anti-regime activists.