PressTV.IR
At least four protesters have been killed and about 60 gone missing after Bahraini security forces storm a protest camp in capital Manama.
Bahraini police broke up a protest camp in Pearl Square in downtown Manama on Thursday and fired tear gas and rubber bullets at the protesters, a Press TV correspondent quoted an unnamed opposition lawmaker as saying.
Bahraini protesters have renamed the square as Tahrir Square, after a square with a similar name in Egypt, which became the center of pro-democracy protests.
Four people were killed during the clashes, bringing to seven the total number of those killed since the protests began on Monday.
Armored vehicles could be seen rumbling through the capital as the government tries to quell the protests inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt.
Bahrain's army has said it will take all necessary measures to ensure security and called on people to avoid going to central areas of Manama.
The magnitude of the pro-democracy protests in Bahrain is unprecedented in the history of the Persian Gulf kingdom and the authorities' efforts to quell them have so far been ineffective.
The demonstrators 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, who are blamed for discrimination against the country's Shia population -- comprising 70 percent of the population.
Protesters have also called on the Bahraini king to fire his uncle, Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, who has been the country's prime minister since 1971.
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