Manama: Bahrain Foreign Minister Khalid Bin Ahmad Bin Mohammad Al Khalifa said protests planned in the country are accepted by the government and that events in Egypt don't threaten the stability of Gulf states. "We are not worried, and are looking at it in a positive way," he said on Sunday in an interview in Manama.
Bahrain's security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse anti-government protesters yesterday in advance of plans to stage major rallies and bring the Arab reform wave to the Gulf for the first time, witnesses said.
It was the second reported skirmish with protesters since Sunday amid sharply rising tensions in the kingdom. Social media sites have been flooded with calls by an array of political youth groups, rights activists and others to join demonstrations later yesterday, a symbolic day in Bahrain as the anniversary of the country's 2002 constitution that brought pro-democracy reforms such as an elected parliament.
Witnesses yesterday said riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse marchers in the mostly Shiite village of Newidrat in the southwest region. At least several people were injured, said witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of worries of reprisals from authorities.
On Sunday, security units and protesters clashed in the Shiite village of Karzakan in western Bahrain, injuring several demonstrators and police. In the capital Manama, security forces were on high alert in anticipation of possible protesters streaming toward main crossroads in a plans designed to echo the uprising centred in Cairo.
