Bahraini police fired teargas and stun grenades to stop mainly Shia protesters trying to march towards the roundabout at the centre of a failed pro-democracy uprising last year and detained two American rights activists who came to monitor.
The activists had come as part of a group called Witness Bahrain which says it wants to observe events on the eve of the first anniversary of protests led mainly by the Shia majority for democratic reforms in the Gulf Arab state. An official said they would be deported for giving false information about the nature of their visit on entering Bahrain.
Bahraini forces crushed the movement, with help from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, but escaped heavy censure from the United States, which shares Saudi fears that empowering Shias in Bahrain would expand Shia Iran's influence in the Gulf. The US Fifth Fleet is based in the island kingdom.
Groups of several hundred activists gathered at different points around Manama's old market district in an apparent effort to evade riot police, before suddenly marching towards the roundabout, now renamed al-Farouq Junction. "To the roundabout, to the roundabout," chanted protesters, led by prominent rights activist Nabil Rajab. Behind them, police using megaphones warned the crowd that the march was unauthorised and they should disperse. Police then fired teargas and stun grenades at the march.
Riot police seized the two Americans, Huwaida Arraf and Radhika Sainath, part of a team of activists calling themselves Witness Bahrain who are monitoring protests this week. Police broke up a crowd of women protesters in an altercation over the arrest of the women activists, after police officers cornered Rajab in an effort to stop the march in a busy commercial district.
"In the coming days and weeks, Witness Bahrain will stand with people taking to the streets to demand democracy, equality and respect for human rights," the group said in a statement. "Witness Bahrain will also maintain a presence in villages active in pro-democracy protests which are being subjected to night raids, teargassing and other attacks by the police."
Some rights activists were denied entry to Bahrain last month. Egypt's military rulers have began legal action against Americans and Egyptians for activities with non-government organisations that they say was not legal or authorised. Rajab said after police left that the protests would continue. "This proves to everybody that peoples' spirit is still alive and coming back, and we're not going to go away," he told Reuters.
Demonstrations, sometimes organised by leading Shia opposition party Wefaq with government approval, have grown in number and frequency as the February 14 anniversary of the uprising approaches. But youth protesters in Shia villages have also clashed with security forces, throwing petrol bombs and iron bars and blocking roads with burning tyres.