May 23, 2017

Bahrain police on Tuesday opened fire on a long-running sit-in in support of a leading Shiite cleric in the Sunni-ruled Gulf state, hit by years of unrest.

Eyewitnesses told AFP there were multiple civilians wounded in the raid targeting the months-long sit-in in Diraz, the hometown of cleric Isa Qassim.

Qassim was sentenced on Sunday to a suspended one-year jail term for illegal fundraising and money laundering.

He was also stripped of citizenship last year, sparking the sit-in outside of his residence in Diraz.

Bahrain's interior ministry on Tuesday said it had "launched a security operation in the village of Diraz to preserve security and civil order as the site is a safe haven for fugitives."