Bahrain crackdown on protesters
Bahrain arrested at least six opposition leaders yesterday, a day after its crackdown on protests among the Shi'ite Muslim majority drew rare US criticism and raised fears of a regional conflict.
State television said "leaders of the civil strife" had been arrested for communicating with foreign countries and inciting murder and destruction of property. It did not say how many had been arrested or name them.
Meanwhile, Bahraini police fired shotguns and tear gas yesterday to disperse a protest in the Shiite village of Deih, west of Manama, a local rights activist said.
Several hundred protesters rallied in the village before security forces opened fire, Bahrain Centre for Human Rights chief Nabeel Rajab said.
An AFP journalist saw riot police stationed at the entrance to Deih firing tear gas. Several military vehicles full of police blocked the road leading from the village of Jidhafs to Deih, he said.
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