MANAMA, 30 October 2004 — Bahraini police clashed late on Thursday with supporters of a jailed human rights activist demanding his release and arrested about 30 people, witnesses said.
Hundreds of anti-riot police fired tear gas to disperse more than 1,000 protesters on a main highway to Saudi Arabia with the demonstrators throwing stones and shouting anti-government slogans. The clashes occurred around midnight as police set up roadblocks around the capital Manama to stop cars displaying pictures of the jailed rights activist, Abdulhadi Khawaja, as part of a campaign to pressure the government to release him.
Witnesses said about 30 people were arrested, including a spokesman for a committee fighting for Khawaja’s freedom, and at least three protesters were injured.
Police cut off roads after the convoy pulled up to a district close to the US Embassy, forcing the demonstrators to get off their cars and continue their protest on the streets. Khawaja, head of the now-banned Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was arrested last month for calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al-Khalifa, whom he blamed for the country’s economic woes.
