Saudi Arabia sent more than 1,000 soldiers into Bahrain on Sunday under the Gulf Cooperation Council's Peninsula Shield Force, as the island kingdom's month-long anti-government protests escalated into their most violent day yet.
Demonstrators seized Manama's Financial Harbour district, blocking roads and shutting down the banking hub. Clashes the previous day left more than 200 people injured, the worst single-day outbreak since seven people were killed at the start of the unrest a month earlier.
A Saudi official said the intervention followed repeated government offers of dialogue that the opposition declined. The Shiite-led opposition rejected the military presence outright, calling it an "overt occupation" and pledging to treat any arriving foreign troops as an invading force.
Crown Prince Salman renewed an offer of national dialogue and backed the creation of a parliament with full legislative powers, but cautioned that concessions could not come at the cost of order. King Hamad echoed the call for unconditional talks, which the main opposition has refused until the government resigns.
Two days before the Saudi deployment, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates visited Manama and urged the king toward rapid democratic reform. The White House called for dialogue over force, while Britain and Australia advised citizens to avoid travel to the country.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in March 2011, in its own words.