Bahrain urged to show restraint after bloody clampdown
LONDON. February 18. KAZINFORM Washington has urged Bahrain to show restraint in dealing with protesters and called for meaningful reform in the small Gulf state kingdom; Kazinform refers to BBC News.
Security forces cleared hundreds of demonstrators from a square in the capital Manama on Thursday, leaving four people dead and hundreds injured.
Prayers and funerals are due to take place in the city on Friday.
A pro-government demonstration is also expected to be held, just hours after Bahrain banned public gatherings.
Tanks prowled the streets of Manama on Thursday as the military was ordered to tighten its grip.
Soldiers would take every measure necessary to preserve security, the interior ministry said.
The use of the military is a course that puts the Bahraini royal family into direct confrontation with members of the Shia Muslim majority who make up the bulk of the protesters, the BBC's Middle East correspondent, Jon Leyne, reports from Cairo.
Since independence from the UK in 1971, tensions between the Sunni elite and the less affluent Shia have frequently caused civil unrest. Shia groups say they are marginalised, subject to unfair laws and repressed; Kazinform cites BBC News.
See www.bbc.co.uk for full version