Manama, Bahrain - Thousands of demonstrators in Bahrain on Friday demanded an end to the alleged politically-motivated naturalization of Sunni Arabs and Asians on the island. The demonstrators formed a three-kilometre human chain in the capital Manama to protest what the opposition describes as an effort to change the demography of largely Shiite Bahrain and influence the outcome of elections.
The demonstration was organized by six opposition groups, including Islamist Shiites, just days after the government rejected a petition signed by more than 190 leading opposition figures and calling for a halt to naturalization until a national dialogue and a review of immigration laws could take place.
"We were expecting the petition to be rejected but its intended message had been delivered," lawmaker Sheikh Ali Salman of the Shiite Al-Wefaq Islamic Society, told the German Press Agency dpa.
He added that opposition groups would draw up another petition in January.
Bahrain's opposition leaders have for years been complaining that tens of thousands of Syrians, Jordanians, Pakistanis and Indians were illegally naturalized ahead of elections in 2004.
The issue topped the list of opposition grievances ahead of elections in 2006 and is at the heart of the opposition parties' platform in the run-up to next year's poll.
Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah al-Khalifa earlier this month publicly described the allegations as baseless and misleading. Previously the government had confined its response to such criticism to parliament.
Al-Khalifa told the pro-government daily Al-Watan that there was no systematic discrimination against anyone and that the Shiites represented the overwhelming majority of those who had been naturalized in recent years.
"The King had ordered the naturalization of 7,648 since the start of the decade, 95 per cent of whom are Shiite," he was quoted as saying.
