World Crisis Online

A Bahraini anti-government protester is taken to hospital in Manama on Thursday

Bahrain’s military has taken over much of the capital Manama and banned street protests after at least three protesters were killed and hundreds injured when riot police broke up an encampment of thousands of demonstrators demanding greater political freedom.

More FT videoTroops in tanks and armoured personnel carriers were deployed to key areas in the city to prevent crowds gathering.

“The security forces have stressed that they will take every strict measure and deterrent necessary to preserve security and general order,” a government spokesman said on Bahraini television. People have been ordered to avoid the city centre.

Security forces used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the largely Shia demonstrators, who since Tuesday have sought to turn the Pearl intersection in central Manama into the country’s equivalent of Cairo’s Tahrir Square. They have dubbed it “Martyrs’ Square”.

Witnesses said police had beaten the protesters, who had built makeshift camps on the roundabout. An aerial view suggested police had regained control of the area by 4am local time.

A policeman at the Pearl intersection said the security forces’ actions were justified. “The demonstration was illegal,” he said. “They were warned and we dispersed it, with some force.”

Three protesters were confirmed killed, although human rights groups said the death toll could be double that. Local media quoted hospital staff as saying 600 people had been injured.

Talal Jaafar, one of the protesters, said that amid thick tear gas he had started to run before being hit by a projectile.

“After I fell, they [the police] handcuffed me with plastic [ties] and threw me on to the street and beat me,” he said. “They stole my wallet, phone, bag and camera.”

“We were just sleeping and they came in and beat us,” said another protester fleeing the roundabout.

A heavy police presence continued across the capital on Thursday as the work day began in Manama’s business centre. Some roads remained blocked and barbed wire was erected around the square.

The forced break-up of the peaceful protest threatens to inflame tensions further as two of the dead, who come from the Shia stronghold of Sitra, are due to be buried later on Thursday.

Mourners gathering at the Salmaniya Hospital where the dead and many of the injured were taken described their fear that the violence could spiral out of control if protesters dropped their peaceful stance and confronted the security forces.

Ambulance staff said they had been beaten as riot police searched ambulances and detained some protesters.

One nurse tending to the injured at the hospital, who had been volunteering at the medical centre at the Lulu roundabout, said police had entered the makeshift clinic, beating patients and staff.

Mohammed al-Mizal of al-Wefaq, the main Shia group, said: “We totally condemn this brutal act of attacking sleeping protesters, this has raised the level. This government that kills its own people can’t continue. That is the minimum I will demand.”

Interactive map: Middle East unrest Explore the common factors behind the countries affected by the protests

Al-Wefaq, whose leader addressed the crowds at the Lulu roundabout on Wednesday and called for the continuation of peaceful protests, had earlier in the week withdrawn from parliament, making its return contingent on concrete moves towards parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy.

King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa had in recent days said that peaceful protests were legal and set up an investigation into the deaths of two protesters killed earlier this week by security forces that sparked the mass demonstration on Pearl roundabout.

The government on Wednesday said it would continue reforms and allow peaceful protests, but called for the political process to continue via parliament, warning of anarchy.

The protesters have rejected the legitimacy of parliament, claiming it failed to achieve the objectives of a charter for reform overwhelmingly approved by the people in 2002.

Amid rising fears of religious divisions deepening in a country with a majority Shia population but a Sunni-run government, all sides warned against sectarianism infecting politics.

But the US and neighbouring Saudi Arabia, with which the Bahraini ruling family has close relations, will watch with concern at perceptions of increasing Shia power in the strategically important Gulf kingdom, base of the US Fifth Fleet and traditionally seen as a bulwark against Iranian influence in the Gulf.

Sheikh Ali Salman, the head of al-Wefaq, denied claims by some members of parliament that Iran was behind the protests, calling on the US and Saudi Arabia to embrace democracy in Bahrain.

The Bahrain government on Wednesday said it would continue reforms and allow peaceful protests, but called for the political process to continue via parliament, warning of anarchy.