MANAMA, May 27 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – A fight between five U.S. soldiers and Bahraini citizens Sunday, May 27, turned into an anti-U.S. demonstration in the capital Manama.

The fight started with an argument between Rabab Said, a Bahraini woman owner of a ladies’-wear store and an Ethiopian female customer in a suburb northeast of Manama, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP). Five U.S. soldiers in civilian clothes then sided with the Ethiopian woman.

Said told AFP the American soldiers harassed her as well as her sister, in addition to trying to assault her Indian chauffeur just in front of two Bahraini policemen who did not try to help her in any way.

The fight caught the attention of some Bahraini youths who interfered and backed the Bahraini woman up and a violent fight broke out between them and the U.S. soldiers.

More Bahrainis joined the fight against the Americans who called for more Bahraini policemen to help them, AFP said.

The fight turned into a demonstration when more people joined in and protested U.S. presence in Bahrain as well as Bahraini policemen’s inaction in the fight.

Protestors demanded U.S. forces out of Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is stationed.

Meanwhile, the Bahraini police refused to comment on the fight, while neither officials from U.S. embassy in Bahrain nor Bahraini officials could be reached for comments.

Many demonstrations broke out in Bahrain in April 2002 protesting U.S. policy in support of continued Israeli incursions into autonomous Palestinian towns. There were numerous calls, moreover, to boycott American products.