MANAMA // Helicopters flew overhead and Bahraini police fired teargas on Wednesday as they cleared protesters from a central roundabout that has become the main protest site by the island's Shiite majority.
Advancing less than 24 hours after Bahrain declared martial law, police moved in thick lines from Bahrain Financial Harbour, the country's main financial district, to the Pearl Roundabout.
Helicopters buzzed overhead as youths hurled petrol bombs at police and scattered when new rounds of tear gas hit.
Two policemen were killed, a health official said, by protesters who knocked them down as they fled in their cars.
Riot police blocked access to Manama's Salmaniya hospital, where many civilian casualties had previously been treated, and it was difficult to pin down casualty figures. However, Abdel Jalil Khalil, the head of Wefaq, the main opposition party, said at least five protesters have been killed and hundreds wounded in Wednesday's crackdown.
The security operation came a day after Bahrain declared three months of martial law to help quell unrest that has drawn in troops from fellow Sunni-ruled neighbour Saudi Arabia.
It did not appear that Gulf Arab forces invited in by the government for support were involved in the operation.
Thousands of protesters had been camped out at the Pearl Roundabout, near the financial district, during weeks of protests. On Sunday, they overwhelmed police and blocked a main thoroughfare leading to the financial area, crippling the economy. On Wednesday, Bahrain announced it had closed its stock market until further notice.
* Reuters
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 2
Suarez (10'), Messi (52')
Real Madrid 2
Ronaldo (14'), Bale (72')
The figures behind the event
1) More than 300 in-house cleaning crew
2) 165 staff assigned to sanitise public areas throughout the show
3) 1,000+ social distancing stickers
4) 809 hand sanitiser dispensers placed throughout the venue
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: SmartCrowd
Started: 2018
Founder: Siddiq Farid and Musfique Ahmed
Based: Dubai
Sector: FinTech / PropTech
Initial investment: $650,000
Current number of staff: 35
Investment stage: Series A
Investors: Various institutional investors and notable angel investors (500 MENA, Shurooq, Mada, Seedstar, Tricap)
Kill Bill Volume 1
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Uma Thurman, David Carradine and Michael Madsen
Rating: 4.5/5
Glossary of a stock market revolution
Reddit
A discussion website
Redditor
The users of Reddit
Robinhood
A smartphone app for buying and selling shares
Short seller
Selling a stock today in the belief its price will fall in the future
Short squeeze
Traders forced to buy a stock they are shorting
Naked short
An illegal practice
In 2018, the ICRC received 27,756 trace requests in the Middle East alone. The global total was 45,507.
There are 139,018 global trace requests that have not been resolved yet, 55,672 of these are in the Middle East region.
More than 540,000 individuals approached the ICRC in the Middle East asking to be reunited with missing loved ones in 2018.
The total figure for the entire world was 654,000 in 2018.
Honeymoonish
Director: Elie El Samaan
Starring: Nour Al Ghandour, Mahmoud Boushahri
Rating: 3/5
SPECS: Polestar 3
Engine: Long-range dual motor with 400V battery
Power: 360kW / 483bhp
Torque: 840Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Max touring range: 628km
0-100km/h: 4.7sec
Top speed: 210kph
Price: From Dh360,000
On sale: September
SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
MATCH INFO
UAE Division 1
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 12-24 Abu Dhabi Saracens