Bahraini Shiites Launch Week of Sit-in Protests

Thousands of Bahrainis have launched what they said would be a week of daily sit-in protests in a Shiite village to commemorate an uprising crushed a year ago, witnesses said on Saturday.

They said the protesters gathered on Friday at a rallying point renamed "Freedom Square" in al-Muqsha village, about seven kilometers (four miles) west of Manama.

They waved Bahraini flags and banners calling for the overthrow of the ruling Sunni al-Khalifa family. "Down with Hamad," some banners read, referring to King Hamad.

Organizers said the rally would last for a week and take place every afternoon until midnight.

"Bahrainis will not go back on their demands," a leading opposition figure from Bahrain's main Shiite opposition formation al-Wefaq, Abduljalil Khalil, told the gathering.

The Shiite-led opposition demands constitutional changes that would reduce the power of the ruling dynasty. Tensions have remained high in Bahrain since a deadly crackdown last year after a month of Manama street protests.