Thousands of anti-government demonstrators in Bahrain have joined a march that included breakaway protests against the scheduled Formula One race later this month, The Associated Press reported.
The anger against the F1 event appears lower than last year but rights groups say security forces have expanded arrests and crackdowns near the track. Opponents of the race have vowed wider protests in the coming week.
The race is Bahrain's premier international event. It was cancelled in 2011. In 2012 it went ahead despite huge demonstrations.
Friday's protest, authorized by the government, included a line of marchers more than 2- kilometers (1.2-miles) long.
Meanwhile, companies who help to bankroll Formula One motor racing are limiting their involvement in the Bahrain Grand Prix from April 19 to April 21, saving some of their marketing dollars for less politically sensitive races, Reuters reported.
The grand prix was cancelled in 2011 following a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests, but sponsors were left squirming last year when the sport's rulers ignored calls by campaigners in Bahrain and abroad for teams not to race, while police and youths staged nightly clashes with teargas and petrol bombs.
The race will again draw attention to the human rights situation in the Persian Gulf island kingdom. Taking a pragmatic approach, many sponsors will make the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November the focus for their Formula One promotional activities in the Middle East this year.
"Abu Dhabi has taken a lot away from Bahrain. Notwithstanding the trouble in Bahrain, the Abu Dhabi race is more interesting for sponsors," said Jim Wright, a sponsorship consultant who worked in the sport for 18 years.
Bahrain was the first Middle East country to host a grand prix in 2004, but Abu Dhabi joined the calendar in 2009 with the Yas Marina circuit, lavish even by Formula One standards.
"The timing at the end of the year is also an advantage for Abu Dhabi," added Wright. "Now, it's starting to be spring (in Europe), and sponsors have an opportunity to take people to races in Barcelona and Monte Carlo next month," he added.
Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-government protesters have been staging regular demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for the Al Khalifa royal family to relinquish power.
On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini government in its crackdown on the peaceful protesters.
According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested in the crackdown.
Physicians for Human Rights says doctors and nurses have been detained, tortured, or disappeared because they have "evidence of atrocities committed by the authorities, security forces, and riot police" in the crackdown on anti-government protesters.
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