Teenager killed during heavy crackdown

A Shiite teenage died on Friday after he was knocked down by a car while being chased by Bahraini police during a crackdown on protesters, the opposition said. Ali Radhi was killed as he headed to Diraz village, west of Manama, to attend prayers led by Shiite spiritual leader Sheikh Issa Qassim, in response to a call by Al Wefaq, the main Shiite opposition formation said on its Twitter page. “Ali Abbas Radhi is a new martyr due to the brutality of the regime,” Al Wefaq said. It said Radhi was “ran over by a civilian car while regime forces were besieging the area and arresting citizens heading to the prayers, chasing them and treating them brutally.” The interior ministry, for its part, said in a statement that a 16-year-old pedestrian was killed in a traffic accident on Khalifa Bin Salman highway. Al Wefaq posted pictures on Facebook and Twitter showing worshippers trying to reach Diraz as police allegedly blocked the roads leading to the Shiite village. Elderly people can be seen in the pictures collapsed on the ground after allegedly being targeted with tear gas. Earlier in the day Bahraini security forces set up checkpoints and fired tear gas in apparent efforts to block worshippers from reaching the mosque where prayers led by Sheikh Issa. The clampdown came after authorities blamed Shiite religious figures for helping fuel tensions in the country. The security measures kept many people from attending the Friday prayers of Sheik Issa, who denounced Bahrain’s move earlier this week to revoke the citizenship of 31 Shiite activists and lawyers. “The revoking of citizenship from honourable people is aimed at punishing those who have opposition views,” he told worshippers who managed to reach his mosque in a Shiite district outside the capital, Manama. On Wednesday, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington was “greatly concerned” by the move. “We have continually called on the government of Bahrain to create a climate that is conducive to reconciliation, to meaningful dialogue, to reform, to bring peaceful change,” she said.