Troops fire on Bahrain protesters

Soldiers have opened fire on thousands of protesters defying a government ban in Bahrain.

At least 50 people were reported injured during the incident.

The firing began as the protesters streamed toward the landmark square that had been the symbolic centre of the uprising to break the political grip of the Gulf nation’s leaders.

Officials at the main Salmaniya hospital said at least 50 people were injured, some with gunshot wounds. Some doctors and medics on emergency medical teams were in tears as they tended to the wounded. X-rays showed bullets still lodged inside victims.

“This is a war,” said Dr Bassem Deif, an orthopaedic surgeon examining people with bullet-shattered bones.

Protesters described a chaotic scene of tear gas clouds, bullets coming from many directions and people slipping in pools of blood as they sought cover.

Some claimed the gunfire came from either helicopters or sniper nests, a day after riot police swept through the protest encampment in Pearl Square, killing at least five people and razing the tents and makeshift shelters that were inspired by the demonstrators in Cairo’s Tahrir Square.

Witnesses saw army units shooting anti-aircraft weapons fitted on top of armoured personnel carriers, above the protesters, in apparent warning shots and attempts to drive them back from security cordons about 200 yards from the square.

Then the soldiers turned firearms on the crowd, one marcher said. “People started running in all directions and bullets were flying,” said Ali al-Haji, a 27-year-old bank clerk. “I saw people getting shot in the legs, chest, and one man was bleeding from his head.”

The clash came hours after funeral mourners and worshippers at Friday prayers called for the toppling of the Western-allied monarchy in the tiny island nation that is home to the US Navy’s 5th Fleet, the centrepiece of the Pentagon’s efforts to confront Iranian military influence.