Dubai: There is an emerging radicalisation of Bahrain's opposition movement as analysts say that while the largest opposition group, Al Wefaq, remains committed to peaceful protest, the more radical February 14 youth movement is adopting violent resistance.
Videos of Shiite youths — dressed as martyrs-in-waiting marching in military formation — are circling the internet, compounding fears that the lack of political progress is radicalising the protest movement.
Serious signs
"There are serious signs of escalation in Bahrain, and meanwhile there are no indications that there is any political reconciliation process," said Jane Kinninmont of Chatham House.
Protesters are increasingly turning to violence, throwing volleys of Molotov cocktails at riot police.
In several cases, youths have managed to run police out of Shiite villages. A spate of deaths in Bahrain is coinciding with the use of increasingly violent tactics by pro-democracy demonstrators, threatening to destabilise the Gulf state ahead of the February 14 anniversary of the uprising.
Activists from the Bahraini opposition say four people have died since Wednesday, including at least one who had been in police detention.
Mohammad Yaqoub, 18, died on Wednesday after being chased and injured by a police car in the restive Shiite stronghold of Sitra, with his family claiming he had been tortured rather than receiving immediate medical treatment.
The interior ministry said someone arrested for "vandalism" had died in hospital, adding that it had asked the public prosecutor to investigate.
A government spokesman denied that any of the other three deaths were related to police operations.
— Financial Times
