The army asserted control of the streets of Manama on Feb. 17, as tanks and heavily armed soldiers stood watch over street corners and city squares.
Manama's Pearl Sqaure had been the central site of anti-government protests, before security forces arrived in the early morning hours of Feb. 17, using shotguns, batons, and tear gas against the unarmed demonstrators.
At least five protesters were killed, and dozens wounded by the Bahrain police forces during the storming of Pearl Square on Feb. 17. According to reports, police used firearms against sleeping demonstrators. Above, an injured protester at a Manama hospital.
As the police attacked protesters at Pearl Square, the Ministry of Health reportedly ordered that ambulances not be dispatched to the scene. Only after the violence had dissipated were health workers allowed to arrive. Ambulances that arrived earlier were actually attacked by police.
A surgeon at a Manama hospital leads a protest on Feb. 17, after at least five people were killed in a raid against anti-government protesters.
Some protesters at Pearl Square foretold that there would be violence. Above, a demonstrator on Feb. 16 holds aloft a sign that says freedom comes at a bloody price.
In the days before the Feb. 17 raid, the demonstrations at Pearl Square in Manama, the capital of Bahrain, were entirely peaceful.
Taking inspiration from the Egyptian protesters at Tahrir Square, Bahranis camped overnight at Pearl Square on Feb. 15.
Bahraini women protesters sit in front of graffiti in Pearl Square early on Feb. 16.
Protesters demanded the introduction of a constitutional monarchy -- the country is currently run by King Hamad, an absolute monarch -- and equal treatment of the country's Shiite population.
