MANAMA (Reuters) – 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.

MANAMA (Reuters) – Armored vehicles patrolled Bahrain’s capital on Tuesday in a security clampdown to deter protesters after overnight clashes outside Manama on the first anniversary of a forcibly suppressed pro-democracy uprising.

Youths threw petrol bombs at police cars during skirmishes before dawn, prompting authorities to flood Shi’ite villages around Manama with police reinforcements backed by helicopters.

MANAMA (Reuters) – One year after Bahrainis, inspired by uprisings in fellow Arab countries, occupied a central public space in Manama their demands for political reform remain unmet, the economy has drawn almost to a halt and sectarian suspicion tears at the fabric of a small island with big strategic punch.

The protests began as a spontaneous movement embracing people from both the majority Shi’ite community as well as Sunnis, cutting across religious and class divides, with demands for broad political, social and economic reform.

MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahraini protesters dissatisfied with the government’s reform moves prepared for a fresh attempt to retake a landmark roundabout on Tuesday, the first anniversary of a pro-democracy uprising crushed by the Gulf Arab kingdom.

Unrest among majority Shi’ite Muslims has revived, posing a sensitive new challenge to the Sunni Muslim ruling elite who have been an important strategic ally of the West by hosting the U.S. Fifth Fleet to counter Shi’ite Iran across the Gulf.

MANAMA (Reuters) – Hundreds of protesters marched in the Bahraini capital Manama Monday, trying to retake a landmark roundabout and blocking a highway on the eve of the first anniversary of a pro-democracy uprising in the Gulf Arab kingdom.

Inspired by revolts in Egypt and Tunisia, Bahrainis – mainly from the Shi’ite majority – took to the streets on February 14, 2011 to demand democratic reform. The Sunni Muslim-led government crushed the protests a month later.

MANAMA (Reuters) – A top U.S. lawman hired by Bahrain to help clean up its security practices after revelations of torture used to help crush a protest movement last year said the government was serious about reforms and but youth violence was posing obstacles.

Opposition parties, led mainly by majority Shi’ite Muslims, want reforms to let the elected parliament form governments and reduce the power of the ruling Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa family, making Bahrain the first Western-style democracy in the Gulf.

MANAMA (Reuters) – A top U.S. lawman hired by Bahrain to help clean up its security practices after revelations of torture used to help crush a protest movement last year said the government was serious about reforms and but youth violence was posing obstacles.

Opposition parties, led mainly by majority Shi’ite Muslims, want reforms to let the elected parliament form governments and reduce the power of the ruling Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa family, making Bahrain the first Western-style democracy in the Gulf.

MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahraini riot police waged pitched battles with petrol-bomb throwing youths on Sunday as violence escalated before the February 14 anniversary of an uprising last year, while King Hamad suggested protesters calling for his overthrow was a “problem for national unity.”

Teenagers blocked off streets in the village of Sanabis, taunting police as “cowards” and “mercenaries” because some are thought to be Pakistani or Yemeni. A policeman shouted to people to get indoors. “This gathering is illegal,” he said.

MAMAMA (Reuters) – Bahraini riot police engaged in pitched battles with petrol-bomb throwing youths on Sunday as violence escalated ahead of the February 14 anniversary of an uprising last year, while King Hamad mocked the opposition for its “bad manners.”

Teenagers blocked off streets in the village of Sanabis, taunting police as “cowards” and “mercenaries” because some are thought to be Pakistani or Yemeni. A policeman shouted to people to get indoors. “This gathering is illegal,” he said.

MAMAMA (Reuters) – Bahrain’s King Hamad dismissed the country’s opposition movement as disunited and said the threat of Iran had compelled him to call in foreign troops to crush last year’s uprising.

“In a sense there is no ‘opposition’ in Bahrain, as the phrase implies one unified block with the same views,” the king said extracts from an interview with Der Spiegel.