Disturbances shook the kingdom through the day. A hospital source said two men, one Bahraini and the other Bangladeshi, were killed in clashes in the Shiite area of Sitra and more than 200 people were wounded in various incidents.
State television said a Bahraini policeman was also killed, denying media reports that a Saudi soldier had been shot dead.
Journalists reporting from the scene said at least two persons were killed and scores injured during the clashes. Sitra has always been considered a volatile area and clashes there were to be expected, said journalists familiar with local politics.
A Saudi Defense and Aviation Ministry source denied reports that Sgt. Ahmed Salim Al-Radadi, a Saudi military officer who was part of the Joint Peninsula Shield Force in Bahrain, had died. “This is a baseless report. Our men are in Bahrain as part of the Peninsular Shield not for any fighting mission but to safeguard some vital areas of the country,” the source said.
The Bahraini government also refuted the report on Tuesday.
“That is simply not correct,” a Bahraini government source told Arab News. “There is a huge disinformation campaign going on these days,” he said. “A mere Tweet by parties having diabolical interests is taken as credible information and then the news agencies run wild with it.”
The government source confirmed that one person was indeed killed by protesters on Tuesday morning.
“He was, however, a Bahraini police officer, and he was run over by an anti-government protester,” he said. One Arab journalist said the Bahraini officer was of Pakistani origin.
According to Al Jazeera, the emergency order comes amid the influx of wounded protesters and undercover policemen at hospitals.
Manama itself wore a deserted look on Tuesday. “There is no vehicular traffic and people are off the streets,” one Manama resident told Arab News.
“It is not that there are restrictions on the movement of people … it is just that people do not want to be caught up in a bad situation.”
The airport was deserted too. Half of the airport staff could not report to work. Some said they could not make it because the bus drivers had not shown up. Airport staff with cars picked up their colleagues.
The government source clarified that the promulgation of the state of emergency was not akin to martial law. “There are no specific restrictions on the movement of civilians. This state of emergency is meant to protect the life and property of Bahrainis from hooligans who are out to destroy our country,” he said.
In Manila, the Philippine government advised its citizens working in Bahrain to leave amid increasing tensions. Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis said Tuesday that there are 31,000 Filipinos in Bahrain.
One Filipino woman, who works at a stand at the airport selling Formula One items, had tears in her eyes. “We need our jobs,” she told Arab News. “The situation is very confusing, nothing is clear,” she said crying profusely. “This place is running on rumors.”
More troops, this time from Qatar and Kuwait, both Gulf Cooperation Council member states, arrived in Bahrain to bolster the country’s security. “They are here at our invitation and are part of the Joint Peninsula Shield Force — the same force that came to Kuwait’s defense during the Iraqi invasion in the 1990s,” he pointed out.
Iran, however, denounced the GCC move describing it as “intervention.” “The presence of foreign forces and interference in Bahrain's internal affairs is unacceptable and will further complicate the issue,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said at his weekly news conference in Tehran.
A Bahraini Foreign Ministry official called the Iranian remarks a “blatant interference in Bahrain's internal affairs,” the Bahrain News Agency said, adding that Manama had recalled its ambassador to Iran for consultations.
Bahrain’s Interior Minister Sheikh Rashed Al-Khalifa called on Bahrainis to cooperate with the security forces. “In order for the situation to return to normal we have to establish order and security and ... stop the violations which have spread disturbances among the people of our dear country,” he said in an address on Bahrain TV.
The White House warned that there was “no military solution” to the political upheaval in Bahrain.
Meanwhile, Bahraini opposition parties have urged the government to give ironclad guarantees that it will carry out political reforms as promised by Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa two days ago.
“He promised all the right things, and we are all happy with all that he has promised, but the opposition point of view is that there is no guarantee that the government will not renege on its promises,” said Muneera Fakhro, a respectable opposition leader.
“It is a classic case of being once bitten twice shy. The opposition saw what happened 10 years ago. Promises were made, but political reforms were never implemented. The opposition fear is that something similar may happen this time too,” she said while articulating opposition reservations. “Let the government give it in writing that it is committed to carrying out the promised changes and hopefully that will end the current impasse.”
