ROME, Italy: A large number of Maraje (Ayaat), clerics and seminary students staged rallies this week in Tehran and the holy cities of Qom and Mashhad against the brutal killing of Bahraini protesters and in support of the popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa.

Grand Ayatollahs Lotfollah Safi Golpaygani, Naser Makarem Shirazi, Seyyed Mousavi Shabeiri Zanjani, Abdollah Javadi Amoli, and Hossein Nouri Hamedani took part in the rally in Qom.

The clerics shouted slogans in condemnation of the foreign countries' intervention in the Islamic countries' affairs and massacre of Muslims especially in Bahrain.

"All Muslims around the world, whether Shia or Sunni, must support the oppressed Muslims using any means," Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi told reporters on the sidelines of the rally.

He also condemned the silence of international and Islamic organizations about the massacre of Bahrainis.

“The reason why we are gathered here is that we want to defend an oppressed nation. All Muslim countries, particularly Bahrain, are facing problems these days. The oppressed [Bahraini] nation is being bullied by dictators that are backed by the global arrogance,” Ayatollah Makarem said.

Ayatollah Nouri Hamedani told reporters that the despotic rulers should know "their day of decline has come."

He also said that the arrogant powers should know that the era of their bullying in the Middle East has come to an end and they don't have any place in this region any more.

Protests in Bahrain started on February 14. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates dispatched troops to Bahrain to suppress the protesters.