Bahrain Mirror: The Al-Bawaba news website said that Bahraini protesters have defied Manama's warning against holding more public gatherings and stayed on the streets in a show of anger against the regime's bloody crackdown on Diraz, the home village of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Isa Qassim.

Several videos, released late Wednesday, show hundreds of Bahraini protesters, including women and children, holding peaceful protests against the ruling Al Khalifah regime.

Other footage shows protests turn violent after regime forces fired tear gas at the demonstrators.    

The escalation comes despite a Wednesday statement by the Bahraini Interior Ministry, which warned against "any gathering or incitement" to protest.

The ministry issued the warning a day after police stormed into the home of Sheikh Qassim, prompting clashes with the cleric's supporters. During the raid, regime forces shot dead at least 5 demonstrators, wounded dozens and arrested over 280 people.

The fresh wave of anti-regime protests began on May 21, when a Bahraini court convicted Sheikh Qassim of illegal collection of funds and money laundering and sentenced him to one year in jail and ordered him to pay $265,266 in fines.

Arabic Version