Demonstrators also clashed with security forces and government supporters on the campus of the main university. Eight policemen were injured in clashes, said Bahrain's Interior Ministry.
In some neighborhoods, vigilantes set up checkpoints to try to keep outsiders from entering.
Thousands of protesters gathered before dawn to block King Faisal Highway, a four-lane expressway leading to Bahrain’s main financial district in downtown Manama, causing huge traffic chaos during morning rush hour and preventing many from reaching their offices on the first day of the work week.
“No one was able to go to work today. Protesters were blocking the highway,” complained Sawsan Mohammed, 30, who works in the financial district. “I am upset that Bahrain is no longer a stable place.”
Security forces dispersed about 350 protesters “by using tear gas,” the government said. But traffic was clogged until late morning and many drivers sent messages of rage and frustration to social media sites. “I blame the protesters for what’s happened in Bahrain today,” said Dana Nasser, 25, who was caught in the traffic chaos and never made it to her office.
About two miles away, police at the same time moved in on Pearl Square, site of a monthlong occupation by protesters.
At Bahrain University, demonstrators and government supporters held competing protests that descended into violence when plainclothes pro-government backers and security forces forced students who had been blocking the campus main gate to seek refuge in classrooms and lecture halls, said Layla Al-Arab, an employee at the Arts Collage. Two protesters sustained serious head injures and hundreds looked for medical help, mostly with breathing problems from tear gas, hospital officials said.
Bahrain’s crown prince renewed his call for national dialogue on Sunday, promising the talks would address key demands such as bolstering the power of Parliament and that any deal could be put to a referendum. In a statement read on Bahrain TV, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa said talks would also cover electoral and governmental reforms, as well as looking into claims of graft and sectarianism.
In a statement earlier in the day, the Interior Ministry urged all protesters to return to the Pearl roundabout for their own safety. It said the police had cleared protest tents from Bahrain Financial Harbour after one policeman was stabbed and another was taken to hospital with head wounds.
