The brutal reaction of the authorities happened in the early hours of yesterday morning. Many of the protesters were asleep as riot police firing tear gas, buckshot and swinging clubs moved into the protest camp in the heart of the capital Manama.
Last night the city was effectively shut down with military checkpoints set up and Bahrainis instructed to stay off the streets.
The military announced a ban on gatherings, saying on state TV that it had ‘key parts’ of the capital under its control.
Police action was necessary to pull Bahrain back from the ‘brink of a sectarian abyss,’ the state’s foreign minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said.
Last night Foreign Secretary William Hague said: ‘We are greatly concerned about the deaths that have occurred and... stress the need for peaceful action to address the concerns of protesters.’
Bahrain, which gained independence from the UK in 1971, is a pillar of Washington’s military framework in the region, hosting the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
And there was more widespread violence across the Arab world yesterday.
At least 20 people were reported killed in Libya while more than 1,000 Yemenis clashed on the other side of the Arabian peninsula.
Meanwhile former Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, ousted in a popular revolt last month, is in a grave condition in hospital in Saudi Arabia, a source said last night.
In Bahrain, Men, women and young children, many of who had been sleeping, were forced out of Pearl Square in the unannounced crackdown by police in tanks and armoured vehicles.
Medical officials said five people were killed in the pre-dawn assault on Pearl Square, which was littered with flattened tents, trampled banners and broken glass.
Read more:
Bahrain protests: Four dead in Bahrain as riot police launch brutal crackdown | Mail Online
Read more:
Bahrain protests: Four dead in Bahrain as riot police launch brutal crackdown | Mail Online