Amateur video shows anti-government protesters clash with police in Manama as thousands riot ahead of the Bahrain Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday.
Protesters fired rockets at police, who responded with teargas in Bahrain on Sunday, as the Gulf state staged a Formula One race promoted by the government as pure sport but seen by the opposition as a public relations stunt.
Scores of police cars and a couple of armoured vehicles stood along the highway from the capital Manama to the race circuit, where the Grand Prix began on time at 12.00 GMT.
Protests in the Gulf Arab country - a key Western ally that hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet - broke out in 2011, with the Shi'ite-led opposition drawing thousands of demonstrators demanding democratic reforms from the Sunni-led government.
The unrest forced the cancellation of that year's Formula One race and although the event went ahead in 2012, it was overshadowed by violent protests in the country.
Sayed Yousif al-Muhafda of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights said some protesters had blocked several roads around Manama on Sunday morning and police fired teargas at a secondary school in the city where students had been demonstrating.
Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman al-Khalifa, who attended Sunday's race, dismissed the suggestion the government was using the race to paper over human rights abuses.
Source: ITN
Protesters fired rockets at police, who responded with teargas in Bahrain on Sunday, as the Gulf state staged a Formula One race promoted by the government as pure sport but seen by the opposition as a public relations stunt.
Scores of police cars and a couple of armoured vehicles stood along the highway from the capital Manama to the race circuit, where the Grand Prix began on time at 12.00 GMT.
Protests in the Gulf Arab country - a key Western ally that hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet - broke out in 2011, with the Shi'ite-led opposition drawing thousands of demonstrators demanding democratic reforms from the Sunni-led government.
The unrest forced the cancellation of that year's Formula One race and although the event went ahead in 2012, it was overshadowed by violent protests in the country.
Sayed Yousif al-Muhafda of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights said some protesters had blocked several roads around Manama on Sunday morning and police fired teargas at a secondary school in the city where students had been demonstrating.
Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman al-Khalifa, who attended Sunday's race, dismissed the suggestion the government was using the race to paper over human rights abuses.
Source: ITN
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