Thousands of anti-government protesters in Bahrain gathered outside the country's interior ministry Wednesday, the latest in a series of daily protests demanding the resignation of the government.
There were no reports of violence during Wednesday's rally in the capital city of Manama.
Unlike those held elsewhere in the Arab world, the protests in Bahrain are largely built around the competition for power between the Sunni minority and the Shi'ite majority, who complain of discrimination and lack of opportunity. Protesters say they want the Sunni monarchy to transfer powers to an elected government that is representative of the Gulf state's majority Shi'ites.
A government crackdown on opposition protests that began February 14 killed seven demonstrators before the island state's rulers agreed, under pressure from their Western allies, to allow peaceful demonstrations to continue.
After about two weeks of anti-government protests, Bahraini King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa ousted four Cabinet members, including two members of the royal family.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
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