Bahrain's government has decreed this morning the state of emergency throughout the country in an attempt to appease the revolt of the Shi'a community that calls for four days on the street democratic reforms. The decision by the National Security Council, emergency meeting this morning, comes hours after police and army blood and fire evict thousands of protesters, many of them women and children, camped on the plaza of the Pearl , in downtown Manama, the capital of the emirate.
The authorities have declared a state of Popup "to clear the city of protesters to force them to go home," said this morning a member Bahraini government told The Washington Post. At least four protesters have been killed, according to medical sources consulted by the AP, and over 300 were injured in clashes with security forces.
A MINISTRY of Interior spokesman has said on television that the military officer will now take "all necessary measures to restore security" in the country, while the population has asked not to leave their homes. The revolt, inspired by the protests in Egypt and Tunisia, threatens to escalate into a bloodbath.
Bahraini security forces, backed by dozens of armored vehicles have entered without notice this last night in the square of the Pearl and have fired teargas and rubber bullets against the crowd in this place to claim, among other things , equal treatment with respect to the ruling Sunni minority.
"I'm hurt, I'm bleeding, they are killing us," he complained one protester in a telephone conversation with the agency. "They entered the square where hundreds of people spent the night in their tents," said another witness to France Presse. Cargo and ambulance sirens has been heard from tens of meters from the plaza.
After the battle, when the day dawned, the troops have started patrolling the area while Apache helicopters flew over the square and fifty vehicles roamed the main streets of the capital. And no sign of protesters. In addition, the army has closed off access to downtown, so that journalists are no longer able to report what happens there.
Nor can get ambulances and medical personnel to treat the wounded are presumed to be around the square. The soldiers have built fences in different parts of the city and blocked several roads with military vehicles. The images offered early in the Qatari channel Al Jazeera showed abandoned tents, blankets and clothes strewn on the floor and food debris and trash.
"I was there ... the fleeing men, but women and children could not run so easily," said Ibrahim Mattar, a deputy of Al-Wefaq, the main Shiite opposition party. The party claimed yesterday a new constitution for realizing the democratic reforms required by most Bahrainis. Meanwhile, the kingdom's Interior Minister has confirmed via a message on Twitter that security forces had "cleared the square of the Pearl." U.S.
urges restraint at noon, Shiite opposition has denounced the disappearance of 60 of its members as a result of eviction by police in Manama and announced that his deputies will leave parliament in protest. The crackdown on demonstrators, also poses a new challenge for American diplomacy, which has always taken a close ally Bahrain but given the new developments will have to provide answers that can vary substantially with regard to the Arab kingdom, says The New York Times.
Officials from the White House have said this afternoon that the U.S. will get in touch this afternoon with the Bahraini authorities to ask for restraint in its response to citizen protests. Four killed in new unrest caused, in addition to the two victims on Tuesday, and about fifty wounded.
The Shiite opposition leader has said that this attack will have consequences: "It was a wrong decision that will have catastrophic repercussions for the stability of Bahrain," Ali Salman has said. The American correspondent of the ABC television network, Miguel Marquez, has been attacked during the police repression.
The chain has posted on its website a radio interview Marquez, panting and with tone alert, direct and described in details the clash between police and protesters. "I'm being attacked by a group of thugs. I'm in a place near our hotel, where people hide in fear in the buildings." "These people are not joking ...
going to clear the square to prevent further protests on Friday. The Government clearly does not want this to increase," said Marquez. Marquez is the second journalist in recent days to be attacked while covering protests in the Arab world after it became known yesterday that a CBS journalist was attacked after the announcement of Mubarak in Egypt to relinquish power.
The mirror of Egypt Thousands of Bahrainis marched yesterday for the third consecutive day to demand political reforms. Encouraged by the recent riots in Egypt and Tunisia, the Shiites, who constitute the majority of the indigenous people of Bahrain, demanding a constitutional monarchy that guarantees their rights in equality with the ruling Sunni minority.
The opposition has called for new protests for Friday and Saturday. The death of two young Shiite clashes with police in less than two days has enraged the protesters, demanding the dismissal of Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifa. Sheikh Khalifa, the king's uncle, takes the head of government since the British left in 1971.
For now, there seem to aim higher. However, during the funeral of Ali Fadhel al Matruk, the second died young, there were cries of "the people want the fall of the regime." Now the protesters are struggling to make it clear that they have no sectarian motive and that neighboring Iran is not involved.
The Shiite opposition leader, Sheikh Ali Salman, said during a press conference who want neither the fall of the regime and the establishment of a religious state like Iran. His aspiration, he said, is "a democratic, constitutional monarchy, in which the Government is elected by the people." The White House called on the authorities to respect the right to demonstrate, reports France Presse.
The authorities have declared a state of Popup "to clear the city of protesters to force them to go home," said this morning a member Bahraini government told The Washington Post. At least four protesters have been killed, according to medical sources consulted by the AP, and over 300 were injured in clashes with security forces.
A MINISTRY of Interior spokesman has said on television that the military officer will now take "all necessary measures to restore security" in the country, while the population has asked not to leave their homes. The revolt, inspired by the protests in Egypt and Tunisia, threatens to escalate into a bloodbath.
Bahraini security forces, backed by dozens of armored vehicles have entered without notice this last night in the square of the Pearl and have fired teargas and rubber bullets against the crowd in this place to claim, among other things , equal treatment with respect to the ruling Sunni minority.
"I'm hurt, I'm bleeding, they are killing us," he complained one protester in a telephone conversation with the agency. "They entered the square where hundreds of people spent the night in their tents," said another witness to France Presse. Cargo and ambulance sirens has been heard from tens of meters from the plaza.
After the battle, when the day dawned, the troops have started patrolling the area while Apache helicopters flew over the square and fifty vehicles roamed the main streets of the capital. And no sign of protesters. In addition, the army has closed off access to downtown, so that journalists are no longer able to report what happens there.
Nor can get ambulances and medical personnel to treat the wounded are presumed to be around the square. The soldiers have built fences in different parts of the city and blocked several roads with military vehicles. The images offered early in the Qatari channel Al Jazeera showed abandoned tents, blankets and clothes strewn on the floor and food debris and trash.
"I was there ... the fleeing men, but women and children could not run so easily," said Ibrahim Mattar, a deputy of Al-Wefaq, the main Shiite opposition party. The party claimed yesterday a new constitution for realizing the democratic reforms required by most Bahrainis. Meanwhile, the kingdom's Interior Minister has confirmed via a message on Twitter that security forces had "cleared the square of the Pearl." U.S.
urges restraint at noon, Shiite opposition has denounced the disappearance of 60 of its members as a result of eviction by police in Manama and announced that his deputies will leave parliament in protest. The crackdown on demonstrators, also poses a new challenge for American diplomacy, which has always taken a close ally Bahrain but given the new developments will have to provide answers that can vary substantially with regard to the Arab kingdom, says The New York Times.
Officials from the White House have said this afternoon that the U.S. will get in touch this afternoon with the Bahraini authorities to ask for restraint in its response to citizen protests. Four killed in new unrest caused, in addition to the two victims on Tuesday, and about fifty wounded.
The Shiite opposition leader has said that this attack will have consequences: "It was a wrong decision that will have catastrophic repercussions for the stability of Bahrain," Ali Salman has said. The American correspondent of the ABC television network, Miguel Marquez, has been attacked during the police repression.
The chain has posted on its website a radio interview Marquez, panting and with tone alert, direct and described in details the clash between police and protesters. "I'm being attacked by a group of thugs. I'm in a place near our hotel, where people hide in fear in the buildings." "These people are not joking ...
going to clear the square to prevent further protests on Friday. The Government clearly does not want this to increase," said Marquez. Marquez is the second journalist in recent days to be attacked while covering protests in the Arab world after it became known yesterday that a CBS journalist was attacked after the announcement of Mubarak in Egypt to relinquish power.
The mirror of Egypt Thousands of Bahrainis marched yesterday for the third consecutive day to demand political reforms. Encouraged by the recent riots in Egypt and Tunisia, the Shiites, who constitute the majority of the indigenous people of Bahrain, demanding a constitutional monarchy that guarantees their rights in equality with the ruling Sunni minority.
The opposition has called for new protests for Friday and Saturday. The death of two young Shiite clashes with police in less than two days has enraged the protesters, demanding the dismissal of Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifa. Sheikh Khalifa, the king's uncle, takes the head of government since the British left in 1971.
For now, there seem to aim higher. However, during the funeral of Ali Fadhel al Matruk, the second died young, there were cries of "the people want the fall of the regime." Now the protesters are struggling to make it clear that they have no sectarian motive and that neighboring Iran is not involved.
The Shiite opposition leader, Sheikh Ali Salman, said during a press conference who want neither the fall of the regime and the establishment of a religious state like Iran. His aspiration, he said, is "a democratic, constitutional monarchy, in which the Government is elected by the people." The White House called on the authorities to respect the right to demonstrate, reports France Presse.
- Bahrain police use teargas to break up demonstration - Reuters (17/02/2011)
- You: Bahrainis join Manama protest camp (16/02/2011)
- Death of Bahrain protester sparks further clashes (15/02/2011)
- ABCNEWS Correspondent Beaten... (17/02/2011)
- Bahrain riot police storm protesters in Pearl Square (17/02/2011)
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