Manama - Bahraini state media on Wednesday accused Qatar of attempting to overthrow the government in Manama, upping the stakes in a diplomatic crisis that has seen Doha isolated in the Gulf. Along with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt, Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Qatar in June on accusations the emirate supports Islamist extremism and is too close to Iran. Qatar has denied the allegations. State-run Bahrain Television aired a report Wednesday which claimed that neighbouring Qatar was behind anti-government protests that have shaken the tiny kingdom for six years. The report claimed that, in 2011, Qatar's prime minister contacted Ali Salman - then head of the country's largest opposition group Al-Wefaq - and asked him to urge protestors to flood the streets and ramp up pressure on the state. "We should use this evidence to file charges against a country that supports terrorism," the head of the country's journalism syndicate and featured in the report, Munes al-Mardi said. Sunni-ruled Bahrain is home to a Shiite majority and has been rocked by Arab Spring-inspired, Shiite-led protests demanding an elected government. Shiite Al-Wefaq was the largest bloc in Bahrain's elected lower house of parliament until 2011, when its members resigned en masse in protest against a state crackdown on demonstrators. A 2016 court order dissolved Al-Wefaq for "harbouring terrorism". Ali Salman has been behind bars since 2014. Authorities have regularly cracked down on protests, which at times have turned violent. The state has jailed hundreds of nationals and stripped a number of high-profile activists and preachers of their citizenship. Manama and Riyadh have regularly accused Shiite-ruled Iran of provoking dissent in the island kingdom, located in the Gulf between Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Iran. Bahrain has been a key ally of the United States for decades and is home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. The United States has not taken sides in the Saudi-led boycott of Qatar, another U.S. ally which is home to the largest American air base in the region.
