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Manama: Bahrain’s parliament on Tuesday endorsed a law banning the manufacture and use of Molotov cocktails six days after a policeman was killed in an arson attack using the incendiary device.
MPs agreed in their weekly session to amend the penal law to ban the possession of Molotov cocktails with the purpose of attacking individuals or exposing them to danger or destroying public or private property.
A Molotov cocktail is typically a glass bottle containing petrol fuel with a fuse consisting of a fuel soaked rag.
Calls earlier this year by the interior ministry to outlaw the device were resisted by MPs, mainly from Al Wefaq, the largest bloc in the parliament, on grounds that some of the materials used to manufacture it could be banned although people need them for their domestic use.
Assurances from the interior ministry were not sufficient to make the MPs change their minds and accept the criminalisation of Molotov cocktails.
But the death of Majid Ali Asghar, 27, on Wednesday after masked men hurled Molotov cocktails into his police car and the strong condemnation it sparked, seem to have united the usually divided Council of Representatives to pass the law criminalising the explosive device.
On Sunday, Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa urged the parliament to outlaw Molotov cocktails as part of stringent measures announced by the government to curb rising violence.
The interior ministry was told to reinforce its special forces, while the information ministry was instructed to monitor websites that incite hatred. The justice ministry was asked to check the use of mosques and religious community centres.
The measures were generally accepted as a means to restore law and order in the country, with no political or human rights groups expressing concerns or reservations.
Bahrain has witnessed since December sporadic outbursts of violence and clashes that included an arson attack on the farm of a former senior security officer in Karzakan, the village where the policeman was killed last week.
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