CovOps
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 |  Subject: Bahrain Protest Crushed By Barbaric Security Forces  Thu Mar 17, 2011 5:51 am | |
| Soldiers and riot police have used tear gas and armoured vehicles to drive hundreds of anti-government protesters from a landmark square in the Bahraini capital Manama.
Three demonstrators and three police officers were killed in the violence, and dozens of other people were wounded.
Abdel Jalil Khalil, a leading Shia politician, said troops had fanned out across Bahrain, cutting off streets and arresting or firing at people who tried to cross cordons.
He added private homes and funeral parlours were receiving casualties as troops had surrounded hospitals and were not letting people in.
Mr Khalil told reporters: "This is a war of annihilation. This does not happen even in wars and this is not acceptable."
Neighbouring Iran has denounced the military action as "foul and doomed".
The Foreign Office has advised Britons to fly out the country on Thursday.
It said the UK government was sending charter planes to evacuate anyone who cannot get on a commercial flight.
Foreign Secretary William Hague has spoke with Bahrain's foreign minister, where he expressed serious concern at the unrest.
Mr Hague urged restraint on all sides and the need for a return to law and order to enable genuine political reform.
The security forces' assault on Pearl Roundabout in the centre of Manama, where anti-government protesters have been camped for weeks, was launched at daybreak.
Stinging clouds of tear gas filled streets and black smoke rose from into the air as their tents caught fire.
Protesters ran for cover into side streets and soldiers blocked main roads into Manama. Mobile phones were apparently jammed and internet services cut.
State TV later broadcast video of military vehicles in the square flying Bahrain's red-and-white flag, as security officials moved through the wreckage of the encampment.
The pictures also showed the ground littered with debris, including satellite dishes and charred tent poles.
Helicopters criss-crossed over the area, which was cleared by security forces late last month but later retaken by demonstrators.
The action came a day after Bahrain's Sunni ruler King Hamad declared a three-month state of emergency and called in Saudi troops to help keep order.
Security forces have now moved into Manama's financial district, reopening roads which had been blocked by protesters. The country's stock market has closed until further notice.
Bahrain - home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet - is the first Gulf country to be thrown into turmoil by the wave of unrest sweeping the Arab world.
The protests began last month. The Shia majority complain of economic hardship, lack of political freedom and discrimination in jobs in favour of Sunnis.
The UN, US and other countries have called for restraint and a political solution to the crisis.
The Foreign Office has advised Britons to leave the kingdom when it is safe to do so, unless they have a "pressing reason to remain".
ANCAPS: ANARCHO-CAPITALISTS
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“The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual, crime.”-- Max Stirner
"Remember: Evil exists because good men don't kill the government officials committing it." -- Kurt Hofmann |
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