Tanks in Bahrain block ambulances

Army tanks on the streets of Manama, Thursday February 17, 2011

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/165649.html

Tanks in the Bahraini capital, Manama, prevent ambulances from taking the victims of clashes to hospitals, as the pro-democracy uprising in the country has entered its fourth day, a report says.

The report also added that Bahraini security forces attack and beat medical workers who are helping the victims on Thursday.

Pro-democracy uprising in Bahrain has entered its fourth day, as protesters, inspired by revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia, have taken to the streets to protest against the government's dictatorial policies.

More than a dozen army tanks and several military ambulances and trucks are seen in a main highway in the central Manama.

According to witnesses, the nearby roads have almost been cleared of civilian traffic.

Security forces have also put up barbed wire around Pearl Square.

On Thursday, security forces raided the protesters camped out in Pearl Square in central Manama and fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the people to disperse them, Reuters reported.

Four people were killed in the incident, raising the number of the deaths to seven since Monday.

At least 2,000 protesters were occupying the Pearl Square on Wednesday, calling for a new constitution and an elected prime minister.

On Wednesday, Bahraini authorities said that they would seek to restore calm in the streets on Thursday, after days of protests inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt and intensified by the deaths of two protesters in 24 hours.

The magnitude of the pro-democracy protests in Bahrain is unprecedented in the history of the kingdom and the authorities' efforts to quell them have so far been ineffective.

The demonstrators, mostly Shia, are demanding a new constitution that would move the country toward democracy and limit the king's powers.

Bahrain is ruled by a royal family from the country's Sunni minority, who are blamed for discrimination against the country's Shia population -- comprising 70 percent of the population.

Protesters have called on the Bahraini to fire his uncle, Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, who has been the country's prime minister since 1971.

The US Navy's Fifth Fleet is based in the kingdom of Bahrain.