Protests and road blockades continue in Bahrain

Bahrain's major pro-government society National Unity Assembly (NUA) said it would not accept " secret" dialogue between the government and opposition groups, while tensions escalated in the island country in the form of road blockade endangering motorists' lives. NUA secretary-general Abdulla Al Howaihi told Xinhua that the government is under pressure to hold closed-door talks with the oppositions but the NUA "want them to know that our society cannot be excluded from raising their views." Meanwhile, Al Wefaq National Islamic Society, the main opposition and largest Shi'ite party in Bahrain, said residence of its leader Shaikh Ali Salman was allegedly attacked by security forces with rubber bullets and tear gas used to disperse protesters. Bahrain witnessed its worse unrest in February and March that killed over 40 people. The anti-government protesters camped at the Pearl Roundabout ( now razed and known as Al Farooq junction) and demanded political, social and economic reforms. The government launched a crackdown in March and took control of the situation. However, tensions escalated recently with masked youth pouring oil on roads and blocking highways with debris. NUA's Howaihi was worried that "these blockades are only doing harm to the country and citizens," noting that with such incidents slowly spreading to other areas, the country "is not stable with all these unfortunate incidents happening on a daily basis." Esam Fakhro, the chairman of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the road blockades are direct and flagrant violations of the rights of residents, and warned of sectarian clashes that may be triggered by such violations. Earlier this week, Bahrain's Interior Minister Lieutenant General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa said they had dealt 1, 235 illegal rallies and demonstrations coupled with more than 7, 238 cases of unrest since in July. Political observers are expecting a report by an independent inquiry commission to reveal the real causes of the unrest. The report is due to be submitted to King Hamad on Nov. 23. Howaihi called on all parties to restrain from illegal activities until the findings of the report are publicly released.