MANAMA, 27 March 2005 — Bahraini authorities yesterday warned of action against the country’s main opposition group after it organized a mass demonstration in defiance of a government ban.

Al-Wefaq Society “will face legal measures after it organized an unlawful demonstration” on Friday, Information Minister and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohammad Abdul Ghaffar was quoted as saying yesterday.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Sitra, the archipelago’s third largest island located south of Manama, in response to Al-Wefaq’s call to press for constitutional reforms.

Protesters, defying an Interior Ministry ban, filled the main highway carrying Bahraini flags and chanting slogans demanding change. Organizers estimated the crowd at about 80,000. More than 2,000 women, all dressed in black robes, joined the march.

Late Friday, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashed ibn Abdullah Al-Khalifa called for legal action against the organizers for holding the march despite being refused a permit, the BNA news agency reported.

Sheikh Rashed said his ministry did not issue the permit due to regional “tension and security threats”.

But Al-Wefaq leader Sheikh Ali Salman, who led the rally, emphasized that they were keen on protecting civil peace and did not intend to disturb or negatively impact government efforts to attract foreign investment.

“Nonetheless we have demands that need to be addressed,” he said.

Sheikh Salman added that their main demand was to have the National Assembly be fully elected. Currently the assembly, which is composed of two houses and has 80 members, has half its members appointed by the king.

“This gathering is demanding a constitution that is agreed upon by everybody, to bring the country out of a crisis which cripples its progress and reforms,” said Sheikh Salman.

He criticized the government for not taking active steps to combat corruption, which he claimed is draining more than 40 percent of the economy. “Bahrain is suffering from policies that harm the nation — corruption, unemployment and poverty. There is an urgent need for reforms,” he added.

“It is not conceivable after 60 years of being an oil producing nation that we remain to have these problems,” he said.

The leftist National Democratic Action Association, the Nationalist Democratic Rally, which is a pan-Arab nationalist group, and the Islamic Action Association, a smaller Shiite group, also took part.

Head of the Democratic Grouping Society, Abdullah Hashim, however described the protest as a sectarian step on behalf the Shiite Al-Wefaq and counter-productive to the reforms efforts.

— With input from agencies