The four are suspected of offences that include entering Bahrain illegally, having submitted false information to border staff, and participating in an unlawful gathering, the Bahrain Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
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“The allegation that they were in any way involved in illegal behavior or anything other than journalistic activities is impossible”, the spokesperson said.
Bahrain said the case of the four detainees has been referred to the public prosecution.
The U.S. Embassy in Bahrain said it was aware of the arrests but could not comment further.
Bahraini police did not name the journalists, but said those held included one woman and three men.
“Anna and her crew are committed journalists who only want to ensure they could undertake their profession ethically and thoroughly”.
On Sunday, demonstrators in the largely Shiite community of Sitra, south of the capital, attempted to march onto a nearby highway but were turned back by police firing tear gas, according to an Associated Press journalist at the scene.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on the government of Bahrain to release four journalists arrested while reporting on the fifth anniversary of 2011 protests.
The family of Anna Therese Day have confirmed she is one of four American journalists arrested in Bahrain yesterday on the anniversary of the popular protests which broke out there in 2011.
They were arrested in the Shia town of Sitra on Sunday during clashes between security forces and protesters, the statement said.
Americans need a tourist visa to enter the country, but that can usually be obtained at the border.
It published photos of a masked person it said was a journalist for the Huffington Post website who was running with his hands in the air while being chased by two policemen.
Bahrain state media reported that US Ambassador William Roebuck met Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa today, though there is no mention in the official report that the journalists were discussed. Activists have repeatedly stated that the country tends to deny journalists the visas since 2011. That was the latest incident in a series of protests in the country, where the Shiite-majority population is ruled by a Sunni royal family.
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Bahrain blamed regional Shiite power Iran for stirring up the demonstrations, though a government-sponsored investigation into the unrest said there wasn’t “a discernible link” between the protests and the Islamic Republic based on the information the government gave them.
