More than 120 protesters have been wounded in clashes with police in Bahrain this week, activists said on Wednesday, and a Shi’ite politician said contacts to resolve the Sunni-ruled Gulf monarchy’s year-long crisis had begun. Activists using the name “February 14 Youth Coalition” called for more demonstrations a day after protests to mark the first anniversary of a violently suppressed pro-democracy uprising. “There were over 100 cases on Tuesday and 37 of them are bad, with head injuries and fractures,” said a medic who works with researchers of an international organization and who asked not to be identified. “On Monday we had 20 people (wounded) in all villages around the country.” The medic said some casualties had been hit by birdshot pellets, which Bahraini police deny using.
Most of the wounded are treated in village homes or private health clinics because majority Shi’ite protesters fear they will be arrested if they go to government hospitals. Ahmed, 20, said he had been struck by birdshot on Tuesday during clashes with police in one of several Shi’ite districts that ring Pearl Roundabout, the hub of last year’s unrest and now a zone sealed by barbed wire and a National Guard camp. “I threw a rock and then one of them (police) stood and shot straight at me. One of the pellets just missed my head,” he said, sitting on a mattress on the ground in visible pain.
