DUBAI: Bahraini police opened fire on Tuesday on a protest by supporters of a top Shia cleric, with at least one demonstrator reported dead in the latest unrest to hit the Sunni-ruled Gulf state.

The Britain-based Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy (BIRD) announced the “tragic death of a peaceful protester in the crackdown” in Diraz, the scene of a long-running sit-in outside the home of cleric Isa Qassim.

Eyewitnesses said multiple civilians were wounded when police opened fire at demonstrators throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at security forces.

Police arrested 50 “fugitives”, including prison escapees “convicted over terrorism” charges, the interior ministry said. It said some of those detained had taken refuge in Qassim’s house and other homes in the area.

Several members of the security forces were injured, it said in a statement, which did not mention anyone killed.

Pictures posted on Twitter by opposition groups showed demonstrations that purportedly broke out in nearby Shia villages protesting the crackdown in Diraz.

Qassim is considered the spiritual leader of Bahrain’s majority Shia community.

The kingdom has been rocked by unrest since 2011, when local authorities backed by a Saudi military force crushed Shia-led protests demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.

Authorities have accused Qassim, sentenced to a suspended one-year jail term for illegal fundraising and money laundering, of serving “foreign interests” and promoting “sectarianism and violence”.

A court last year stripped him of his citizenship, sparking repeated sit-ins outside his residence in Diraz.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2017