At least four people were killed in Bahrain after riot police with tear gas and protesters carried sticks a main square where they had demanded a radical political change.
armed patrols roam the neighborhoods and the tanks appeared on the streets for the first time since the crackdown in the Pearl Plaza, Manama, the site of anti-government demonstrations since Monday.
Barbed wire was set up in the streets leading to the plaza, where the police cleaned up protest tents flattened and trampled banners. The Interior Ministry said the protest camp "illegal" and warned the citizens of Bahrain to stay off the streets.
The island was closed because the workers actually laid down in the capital could not pass the checkpoints or were too scared to venture out. Banks and other key institutions would not open.
The demands of the protesters "have two main objectives: force the Sunni ruling monarch to relinquish its control over high-level government positions and all critical decisions and to address the deep grievances held by the majority Shiite country say they face systematic discrimination and are effectively blocked a key role in the civil service and military.
Bahrain is one of the pillars of U.S. military structure in the region. It hosts the 5th Fleet of the U.S. Navy, an important counterweight to Iran's efforts to expand its influence in the region.
Any prolonged crisis opens the door to a potential flash point between Iran and its Arab rivals in the Gulf. Bahrain's ruling Sunni dynasty is closely linked to Saudi Arabia and other Arab regimes in the Gulf. But the radical Shiites in Iran have often expressed kinship and support Bahrain's Shiite majority, which accounts for 70% of the 500,000 citizens of the island.
Sporadic clashes between police and protesters continued, with protesters throwing stones, then retreating. A group of youths broke the pavement for more stones to throw.
The protesters began camping Tuesday in the square beneath the monument 300 feet with a giant pearl, which is the nerve center of the first protests against the government to reach out to Arab Gulf countries and surveys in Tunisia and Egypt.
Mahmoud Mansouri, a protester, said police surrounded the camp and then moved quickly in "We shouted," We are peaceful! Pacific! '. Women and children were attacked as the rest of us, "he said." They moved in the media has left us. They knew what they are doing. "
