xmboshi

MANAMA, Bahrain -- Bahraini police and soldiers, firing live ammunition

and backed by U.S.-built Apache assault helicopters, drove protesters

from a key traffic square here  shop online 2011  Wednesday, then blocked wounded people

from reaching hospitals, in a brazen crackdown aimed at ending a month

of pro-democracy protests.

At least three people were killed and scores injured. Two members of

the police force also were reported killed. The government declared a 4

p.m. to 4 a.m. curfew.

It took troops no more than half an hour to clear Pearl Square of

hundreds of protesters who'd been entrenched there since protests began

in February.

First, the Apache helicopters came - six of them - at around 6:30 a.m.,

circling low over the square where protesters had spent the night in

anticipation of an attack. Troops also took up positions on the

rooftops of the surrounding buildings.

The helicopters fired tear gas at the protesters - men, women and

children - many of whom were sleeping in their tents.

Then they fired live ammunition into the crowd, witnesses said.

Shortly afterward, hundreds of riot police backed by army troops in

tanks and machine-gun-mounted vehicles swarmed the small roundabout in

the center of the capital. Most protesters retreated, though some threw

stones at the heavily armed troops.

Those who tried to resist were pushed to the ground and beaten.

President Barack Obama  power balance bracelet  expressed "deep concern" and urged "maximum

restraint" in phone calls to the king of Bahrain and the king of Saudi

Arabia, which two days ago dispatched troops to Bahrain, White House

press secretary Jay Carney said. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham

Clinton in Cairo criticized the crackdown.

"We think they're on the wrong track," she told the BBC. "We deplore

the use of force against demonstrators, and we deplore the use of force

by demonstrators. We want a peaceful resolution."

Human rights groups called on the U.S. to halt weapons sales to

Bahrain, home port to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

"It appears that the government has decided to deal with protests

through violent repression, a totally unsustainable position and one

which sets an ominous example in a region where other governments are

also facing popular calls for change," Amnesty International said in a

statement.

The Bahraini government denied that live ammunition had been used, and

said police moved only after they were attacked by demonstrators on a

nearby highway overpass with Molotov cocktails. It said retreating

protesters set fire to tents.

"The only fatalities during the operation were the deaths of two police

officers; killed after being repeatedly run over by three vehicles

containing protesters leaving the fringes of the scene," the government

statement said. "No other injuries were recorded."

The crackdown signaled a harsh new turn in the turmoil that has wracked

the Arab world since popular protests drove the president of Tunisia

from power in January. Egyptian   power balance  President Hosni Mubarak fell quickly

afterward, but since his resignation on Feb. 11, what seemed like an

unstoppable wave of popular revolts has receded in the face of

repression.

Libyan rebels appeared Wednesday to have lost the key city of Ajdabiya

to forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi, whose troops were reportedly

preparing to assault the rebel capital of Benghazi after a week of

victories over ill-equipped and disorganized rebel forces.