Manama, February 12 (RHC)-- Bahrainis will hold a nationwide strike on Thursday to mark the third anniversary of their uprising against the ruling Al Khalifa regime. The call for strike was made by Bahrain's main opposition bloc, al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, that also urged a mass rally on Saturday to commemorate the February 14th uprising against the Saudi-backed monarchy.

A youth coalition has also urged people to take to the streets on Friday and try to reach the iconic site of the protests which used to be called Pearl Square. Bahraini authorities razed the square to the ground in the center of Bahrain's capital, Manama, in 2011.

Bahrain has been the scene of almost daily protests against the Al Khalifa regime since February 2011, when thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets, calling for the royal family to leave power.

On March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates invaded the country to assist the Bahraini regime in its crackdown on peaceful protesters. According to local sources, scores of people have been killed and hundreds arrested.

Physicians for Human Rights say 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.

Bahrain is a strong ally of the United States, serving as the home port of the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.