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MANAMA — More t han 120 protesters have been wounded in clashes with police in Bahrain this week, activists said on Wednesday, and a top opposition figure said the government had put out feelers about talks to resolve the Gulf state’s year-long crisis.
Activists using the name “Feb. 14 Youth Coalition” called for more demonstrations a day after protests to mark the first anniversary of a violently suppressed pro- democracy uprising with Sunni-shiite sectarian overtones.
There were clashes in Musalla near Manama and the flashpoint town of Sitra, and police were arresting people in house to house raids in Sanabis, a Shiite village on the edge of the capital, and Budaiya, a district outside Manama.
“There were over 100 cases on Tuesday and 37 of them are bad, with head injuries and fractures,” said a medic who works with researchers of an international organisation and asked not to be identified.
“Onmonday we had 20 people ( wounded) in villages around the country.”
The medic said some casualties had been hit by birdshot, which Bahraini police deny using.
Most of the wounded are treated in village homes or pri- vate health clinics because protesters from the Shiite majority fear they will be arrested if they go to hospitals run by the government, which is appointed by the Sunni monarchy.
The protests began as a spontaneous movement embracing both Shiites and Sunnis, cutting across religious and class divides with demands for broad political, social and economic reform.
But they descended into sectarian violence as backroom talks on democratic reforms went nowhere, and hardliners in government and opposition seized the initiative.
Government forces backed by Saudi troops crushed last year’s month- long revolt. By June, when a state of emergency was lifted, 35 people including security personnel had been killed.
Shiites clash regularly with riot police, while the opposition and government accused each other of rejecting dialogue.
However, Abduljalil Khalil, who heads the parliamentary caucus of the Shiite Wefaq party, the largest opposition faction, said three senior Wefaq figures met two weeks ago with Royal Court Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed, a powerful figure in the ruling Al- Khalifa family, at the government’s request.