Police crack down on protesters in Manama for third day

The Bahraini police continued the crackdown on protesters along a main highway West of the capital Manama for a third straight day. Police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse thousands of protesters gathered Saturday along Budaiya highway, which connects a string of villages West of the capital, Manama. Protesters massed along the highway after the funeral of a protester who died during a rally Thursday. Witnesses said the man was hit by a police car. The highway connects a string of villages west of Manama. It leads to a junction that is roughly half a kilometer (a quarter of a mile) south of Manama's Pearl Square, where this year's uprising originated. Government forces evicted protesters and tore down the pearl sculpture that marked the site in March. The now heavily guarded square holds great symbolic value for the opposition movement, and protesters have repeatedly tried to retake it. Anti-government protesters have been holding peaceful demonstrations across Bahrain since mid-February, calling for an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty's over-40-year rule. Violence against the defenseless people escalated after a Saudi-led conglomerate of police, security and military forces from the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (PGCC) member states - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar - were dispatched to the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom on March 13 to help Manama crack down on peaceful protestors. So far, tens of people have been killed, hundreds have gone missing and more than 1,000 others have been injured. Yet, protests and rallies continued throughout the country in defiance of the martial law put in place by Manama since February. Bahrainis have repeatedly condemned Riyadh's major role in the suppression of their revolution, and underlined that they would continue protests until the Al Khalifa regime collapses.