MAMAMA, Feb 12: Bahrain’s King Hamad dismissed the country’s opposition movement as disunited and said the threat of Iran had compelled him to call in foreign troops to crush last year’s uprising.

“In a sense there is no ‘opposition’ in Bahrain, as the phrase implies one unified block with the same views,” the king said extracts from an interview with Der Spiegel.

“Such a phrase is not in our constitution, unlike say the United Kingdom. We only have people with different views and that’s okay,” he said in the article to be published on Monday.

Bahrainis took to the streets last February, inspired by Arab world uprisings, and the government imposed martial law, stamping out the unrest with the help of Saudi troops in March.

Demonstrations began again after the emergency law was lifted in June and are escalating before the anniversary of the 2011 protests.

Mainly Shia opposition parties are demanding Bahrain’s elected parliament to have the power to form governments.

Shias complain of political and economic marginalisation by an entrenched elite who do not want to share power. The government denies this and says it is open to reforms.

The United States and Saudi Arabia see Bahrain, host to the US Fifth Fleet, as a key ally in their conflict with Iran over its nuclear energy programme and extended regional influence.

Washington says the government should enter a new dialogue with the opposition. Assistant US Secretary of State Michael Posner visited Manama last week and said the country must do more to heal the rifts left by the unrest.

Activists are ramping up protests with official opposition party marches, rallies licenced by the government and unofficial marches led by activists and rights figures in Manama.

Youths from the majority Shia community clash nightly with police in villages.

The king said the protesters’ refrain “Down with Hamad”, sounded by trumpets and car horns and chanted at rallies, was simply a case of bad manners and no reason to imprison people.

But he said chants in favour of Iran’s Supreme Ruler Ali Khamenei were a concern, echoing the government’s charge that Iran helped foment the uprising which, it says, had Shi’ite sectarian motives. Pro-Khamenei chants have not been heard at opposition rallies. —Reuters