MANAMA, Bahrain, April 14 (UPI) -- The government of Bahrain took steps Thursday to outlaw the country's largest Shiite political party and another opposition group.
The nation's Justice Department accused al-Wefaq and the Islamic Action Society of breaking the law during the mass protests and inciting violence, Gulf News reported.
Bahrain is a Shiite-majority country ruled by the Khalifa family, who are Sunnis. Last month, Saudi Arabia sent troops to help shore up the country's government.
Talks between Wefaq, which won 18 seats in Parliament in 2009, the largest bloc in the 40-member body, and members of the Khalifa family seeking a political solution broke down when the troops arrived, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Wefaq members of Parliament resigned to protest the government's crackdown on protests.
"It's reached a stage where they say there are no more moderates, that the entire opposition consists of extremists. This is the wrong message," Mattar Ibrahim Mattar, a former Wefaq parliamentarian, said.
