Bahraini regime forces attack protesters’ houses in several villages

Bahraini regime forces have attacked dozens of houses in several villages near the capital, Manama, as the crackdown on anti-regime protesters continues.

Bahrain’s main opposition party, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, said that regime forces rummaged through the protesters’ homes in the village of Diraz on the northwestern coast of the Persian Gulf country. The group added that the forces have also stormed houses in Sitra and Hamad, the Sanad residential area and al-Dair village.

On Monday, a 55-year-old Bahraini identified as Saeed Abdullah Marzouq died after inhaling toxic tear gas fired by regime forces into residential neighborhoods in the village of Diraz.

The latest fatality comes ahead of a planned anti-regime protest on August 14, the date that marks the withdrawal of British forces from the Persian Gulf Island back in 1971.

Last year, Amnesty International warned about the Bahraini regime’s misuse of tear gas against protesters and called for an investigation into the tear gas-related deaths.

Bahrainis have been staging anti-regime demonstrations since mid-February 2011, demanding political reforms and a constitutional monarchy, a demand that later changed to an outright call for the ouster of the ruling Al Khalifa family following its brutal crackdown on popular protests.

Scores of people have been killed, many of them under torture while in custody, and thousands more have been detained since the popular uprising in Bahrain began.

Protesters say they will continue holding anti-regime demonstrations until their demand for the establishment of a democratically-elected government and an end to rights violations is met.