BAHRAIN’S security forces fired tear gas at anti-government protesters in the Gulf kingdom after a prominent Shi’ite cleric vowed that their demands for the Sunni monarchy to loosen its grip on power will not be silenced by “brutal force”.

One man has died and at least 50 been injured when Bahrain security forces fired tear gas and pellets at anti-government protesters today, activists said.

At least six leading opposition activists have been detained in the continuing crackdown on protesters in the Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, reports say.

Bahrain riot police have fired tear gas and rubber bullets at an anti-government protest camp in the capital, eyewitnesses claimed today.

Bahrain’s leaders banned public gatherings and sent tanks into the streets, intensifying a brutal crackdown that killed five anti-government protesters, injured more than 200 and turned a hospital into a cauldron of anguish and rage against the monarchy.

Thousands of protesters poured into a main square in Bahrain’s capital today as the Arab push for change gripped the Gulf for the first time.