MANAMA, Feb 27: Eighteen Bahraini MPs from Al-Wefaq opposition bloc officially submitted their letter of resignation on Sunday to protest the killing of anti-regime demonstrators, lawmakers said. Seven people have been killed by security forces since anti-government demonstrations began in Bahrain on Feb 14. The protests have continued unabated since.

“We are no longer affiliated with this council, which did not lift a finger in front of these massacres,” read the letter signed by the 18 MPs. The 18 MPs of Al-Wefaq, or the Islamic National Accord Association, make up the largest single bloc in the parliament, which had last week announced quitting the parliament.

“Officially, we submitted the resignation letter today,” Khalil al-Marzouk, one of the 18 MPs, said. Two other Al-Wefaq MPs, Ali al-Aswad and Mattar Mattar confirmed the announcement.

Mattar said that the head of parliament will now compile a report on the resignations and submit it to parliament, which must accept them or reject them.

If parliament accepts the resignations, after two months “there will be partial elections, just for the constituencies which became empty,” said Mattar.

If it does not accept the resignations, “the parliament continues its work with those numbers, with the 22 (remaining) members.” Mattar added that parliament may not accept the resignations, but that “our view is that the parliament will lose its legitimacy after we resign.” The letter from the 18 MPs did not mention King Hamad’s reshuffle of the cabinet Saturday in a bid to placate anti-government protesters and lawmakers said the changes did not meet their demands for reforms.

Mattar described the move as a “negative indicator for the willingness in the government to go for political reform.” “The changes in the government were very minor, and didn’t reach the ministers who were responsible for the blood,” he said, in reference to seven people killed in the protests.

And Aswad said that “one of the most important preconditions (for dialogue)... is that the government needs to resign first -- not to change a few ministers.” Official Bahraini opposition groups, led by Al-Wefaq, have stopped short of demanding outright regime change, instead calling for major reforms including an elected prime minister and the creation of a “real” constitutional monarchy. However, protesters have been less equivocal in their demands.

“The people want to topple the regime!” thousands of demonstrators chanted on Saturday as they marched through downtown Manama.

Demonstrators on Sunday continued to keep vigil in hundreds of tents in Manama’s Pearl Square, which has become the epicentre of protests against the tiny Gulf kingdom’s Sunni Al-Khalifa dynasty, which has ruled the Shiite-majority country for over 200 years.—AFP