Bahrain protests: Police break up Pearl Square crowd

Security forces in Bahrain have dispersed thousands of anti-government protesters in Pearl Square in the centre of capital, Manama.

Hundreds of riot police using tear gas and batons moved in before dawn, with tanks now reported on some streets.
At least three people died in the police operation, according to the opposition, with 100 injured.
The protesters are calling for wide-ranging political reforms and had been camped out since Tuesday.
Clashes earlier in the week left two dead and dozens injured in the country.
The unrest comes amid a wave of protests that has swept through several Arab nations, with the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt forced to resign.

Tear gas
Ibrahim Sharif, of the secular Waad party, told the INEWS that the police had acted without any warning at about 0300 (2400 GMT).

"Throughout the day there were rumours that we would have another 24 hours, but the attack has come without warning.

"You have hundreds of women and children already camping there. People are sleeping in the tents [...] there is a dense fog of tear gas, these people could be trapped there and inhaling this tear gas," he said.
He said that he had seen at least 100 riot police on one side of the square and hundreds of people running away from the square down the side roads.
"We have two confirmed dead - one 65-year-old and another younger person, a third is in critical condition," he said, adding that ambulances with injured people were arriving almost every minute at Manama's main hospital, Salmaniya.
Some children, he said, had become separated from their parents as police stormed the square.
The Agence France-Presse news agency quoted an opposition MP as saying a fourth protester had died from his wounds but this has not been independently confirmed.
Abdul Jalil Khalil, from the opposition Wefaq party, told Reuters: "This is real terrorism. Whoever took the decision to attack the protest was aiming to kill."
One Bahrain resident, Ali, who went to the hospital to donate blood, told the BBC: "Lots of people are standing at the gates of the hospital. They came to donate blood. The police has closed the area so that no people can get in or out - some tried to get out and were shot at by police.
"There are many tanks and helicopters hovering around."