Bahrain protests block road to finance district (Includes aerial raw footage of the ensuing battle)

Source: AP

3 hours ago

MANAMA, Bahrain — Riot police in Bahrain fired tear gas and rubber bullets at anti-government demonstrators blocking the highway into the capital's financial district Sunday and surrounded the protesters' main camp in the capital, eyewitnesses said.

Authorities failed to dislodge the thousands of protesters blocking King Faisal Highway in Manama, the capital, demanding a greater political voice in the strategic Persian Gulf kingdom, the home of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

About two miles (three kilometers) away, police moved on the Pearl Square protest camp in the largest effort to clear the area since the demonstrations, inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, started in mid-February. That police push, too, was unsuccessful.

Another protest at a university also descended into violence Sunday with security forces and government supporters clashing with students.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g4iZCkeT12CeSpTzHSpxYtNBYIow

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Watch footage of the battle here: http://www.euronews.net/2011/03/13/protesters-try-to-block-bahrain-business-district/



Protesters and government stand firm in Bahrain

AFP , Sunday 13 Mar 2011

=snip=

Several protesters were hurt after inhaling tear gas fired by riot police from a bridge overlooking the square, but security forces pulled out shortly after, witnesses said.

Almost a month into protests calling for deep political change in Bahrain, anti-government demonstrators and the Gulf kingdom's rulers appear to be at an impasse, with neither side backing down.

"I believe there is a stalemate," said Salman Shaikh, the director of the Brookings Doha Center. "The parties, from what I can see, still seem to be very far apart."

The demonstrations in Shia-majority, Sunni-ruled Bahrain broke out 14 February, part of a wave of protest movements across the Arab world after uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt that toppled those countries' long-time rulers.

Full article: http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/7572/World/Region/Protesters-and-government-stand-firm-in-Bahrain.aspx

Shown and reported on by Al Jazeera English here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=122GB4Yg0tc

Reuters report of the battle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBdu98w-f4k

Riot police in Bahrain have used tear gas and rubber bullets in an attempt to force a group of more than 300 anti-government protesters from blocking the capital's financial district.

A large number of officers reportedly fired "dozens" of tear gas canisters to clear the area in front of the Bahrain Financial Harbour on Sunday.

Footage of the scene on the video-sharing website Youtube showed one protester apparently being shot with a teargas canister at close range.

A number of people injured in the crackdown were taken away in ambulances

More: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/03/201131375850321229.html