Olaf Glaeseker said Friday that President Christian Wulff insists that “freedom of assembly and freedom of speech in Bahrain must be fully guaranteed.” Wulff’s trip to Bahrain was part of a wider loop through the region that is to bring him also to Kuwait and Qatar between Feb. 15 and March 2.

A crackdown on a protest encampment in Bahrain’s capital, Manama, has left at least five dead and more than 230 were injured, with military forces deployed in key areas and checkpoints on main roads.