Manama (Bahrain): Thousands of people have taken to the streets in Bahrain to demonstrate against the government in a permitted protest in the Gulf kingdom.
The demonstrators marched west of Bahrain`s capital, Manama, today to protest new strict new laws designed to curb dissent.
Opposition parties called for the protest and it had prior approval from the government, meaning it wasn`t broken up like others recently called by demonstrators in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.
Security forces have kept other protests away from the center of the capital in this country that`s home to the US Navy`s 5th Fleet.
The island nation with a native population of more than 5,50,000 has been gripped by near nonstop turmoil since February 2011, when Shiites inspired by the Arab Spring began the uprising.
PTI