Bahrain protest overtakes police

Police firing tear gas and rubber bullets were unable to disperse thousands of mainly Shiite antigovernment protesters who blocked roads and prevented access to buildings in Manama’s financial district, posing a further threat to the island's shaky economy, The Wall Street Journal reports.

After briefly succeeding in pushing back about 350 protesters to their stronghold at Pearl roundabout in the morning, the police were later overwhelmed by thousands of demonstrators who occupied a nearby elevated highway and marched back toward the financial district. By evening, protesters set up a series of roadblocks along the King Faisal Highway running through part of the financial district, in an effort to prevent commuters getting to work Monday morning.

It was the second major clash between police and protesters since the military was ordered off the streets nearly three weeks ago. On Friday, hundreds were injured in clashes when demonstrators marched on the royal family offices in Riffa, south of the capital, where they were met by police and hundreds of Sunni government loyalists armed with swords, sticks and clubs.