Saudi troops sent into Bahrain
Saudi troops sent into Bahrain Reports say military force deployed to Gulf neighbour to help protect government facilities after weeks of unrest.
Last Modified: 14 Mar 2011 16:04 GMT
Hundreds of Saudi troops have entered Bahrain to help protect government facilities there, according to witnesses.
Bahrain television broadcast images of the troops entering the Gulf State, which lies between Qatar and Saudi Arabia, on Monday.
The images back up earlier claims by Saudi sources that a force had entered Bahrain whose Sunni rulers have faced weeks of protests and growing pressure from a majority Shia population to institute political reforms.
"About 1,000 Saudi soldiers entered Bahrain early on Monday morning through the causeway to Bahrain," the Reuters news agency reported a Saudi source as saying, referring to the 26km causeway that connects the island kingdom to Saudi Arabia.
"They are part of the Gulf Co-operation Council [GCC] force that would guard the government installations."
In Saudi Arabia, the SPA state news agency carried a government statement saying: "The council of ministers has confirmed that it has answered a request by Bahrain for support."
Solidarity move
Abdel al-Mowada, the deputy chairman of Bahrain's parliament, told Al Jazeera that it was not clear how the Saudi force would be deployed but denied the troops would become a provocation to protesters.
"It is not a lack of security forces in Bahrain, it is a showing of solidarity among the GCC," he told Al Jazeera.
"I don't know if they are going to be in the streets or save certain areas ... [but protesters] blocking the roads are no good for anyone, we should talk.
"The government is willing to get together and make the changes needed, but when the situation is like this, you cannot talk."
The arrival of the troops follows a request from Bahrain for help from its Gulf Arab neighbours after Bahraini police clashed on Sunday with mostly Shia demonstrators in one of the most violent confrontations since troops killed seven protesters last month.
But opposition groups, including Wefaq, the country's largest Shia movement, have spoken out against the use of foreign troops.
"We consider the entry of any soldier or military machinery into the Kingdom of Bahrain's air, sea or land territories a blatant occupation," Wefaq said in a statement.
'Blatant occupation'
Nabeel Rajab, from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, told Al Jazeera that the Saudi troops would be opposed by the protesters.
"This is an internal issue and we will consider it as an occupation," he said. "This step is not welcomed by Bahrainis. This move is not acceptable at all. It is a repressive regime supported by another repressive regime."
Already, as reports circulated about the Saudi force's arrival, hundreds of protesters had gathered behind makeshift checkpoints around the Pearl Roundabout, the scene of much of the protest in Bahrain.
Even some government supporters fear the economic impact of a Saudi intervention.
"Who would want to do business here if there are Saudi tanks rolling across the causeway?" asked Abdullah Salaheddin, a Bahraini banker, last week.
In a sign that the opposition and Bahrain's royal family could still find a solution, the opposition groups said they had met Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, Bahrain's crown prince, to discuss the mechanism for national dialogue.
The crown prince offered assurances on Sunday that dialogue would address key opposition demands including giving parliament more power and reforming government and electoral districts.
