The March of loyalty to martyrs (Arabic: مسيرة الوفاء للشهداء masīra al-wafāʾ ash-shuhadāʾ) was a protest on 22 February 2011 in Manama, Bahrain.

Named after the seven victims killed by police and army forces during previous protests, the march filled the space between Bahrain mall and Pearl Roundabout.

[1] Security forces responded by firing tear gas, rubber bullets, sound bombs and birdshot into the crowd of protesters.

"We felt it was important for the country to focus on immediate issues of national interest and leave the hosting of Bahrain's Formula One race to a later date", the king stated.

[15] In the evening, tens of thousands of government supporters, borrowing the anti-government protesters' slogan "no Sunni, no Shia, only Bahraini", gathered in Al Fateh Mosque in Juffair.

[17] The next day, appearing on Bahrain's official news agency,[15] the king ordered the release of 50 political prisoners, including 25 Shia activists arrested during the 2010 crackdown and accused of forming a "terrorist network" whose goal was to overthrow the government.

It stretched for several miles, filling the eastern side of Sheik Khalifa bin Salman Highway[17] from Bahrain Mall to Pearl Roundabout located in Manama's business district.

[20] The protesters, while carrying the white-and-red flag of Bahrain and posters of the seven victims, chanted: "Ash-shab yurid isqat an-nizam" ("the people want to bring down the regime"), "Egypt, Tunisia, are we any different?

[20] The march was led by ambulance drivers who reported being attacked by security forces while trying to help treat protesters from the Pearl Roundabout injured on 17 February, which came to be called Bloody Thursday.

[19][21][22] Protest organizers, which consisted of a loose coalition of seven political parties including Al Wefaq and Wa'ad,[23] named the march the largest in Bahrain's history.

[31] Peaceful protests, including one pro-government rally,[32] continued throughout February[33][34] and the first half of March,[35][36][37] and drew tens of thousands of participants.

On 8 March, unsatisfied by the government response, a coalition of three hard-line Shia groups called for the abdication of the monarchy and the establishment of a democratic republic through peaceful means.

[48] The government arrested over 1,000 protesters[49]: 34:50  including leading opposition and rights activists[50] (known as the Bahrain Thirteen) as well as sportsmen,[51][52] academics, businessmen, doctors, engineers, journalists and teachers.