More Bahrain

Bahrain has asked for help from neighbouring Gulf Arab countries after protesters overwhelmed police and cut off roads, and an adviser to the royal court said the forces were already on the strategic island kingdom.

"Forces from the Gulf Cooperation Council have arrived in Bahrain to maintain order and security," Nabeel al-Hamer, a former information minister and adviser to the royal court, said on his Twitter feed late on Sunday, accroding to the Reuters news agency.

Gulf Daily News, a newspaper close to Bahrain's powerful prime minister, reported on Monday that forces from the GCC, a six-member regional bloc, would protect strategic facilities.

"GCC forces will arrive in Bahrain today to take part in maintaining law and order," the paper wrote. "Their mission will be limited to protecting vital facilities, such as oil, electricity and water installations, and financial and banking facilities."

'Saudi intervention'

Many Bahrainis are now nervously looking across to Saudi Arabia and wondering whether the giant neighbouring kingdom will send troops to prop up its close ally, the Khalifa monarchy.

That question has been a topic of conversation in Manama for weeks. And The Guardian reported on Monday that Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa, Bahrain's crown prince, would formally request a Saudi intervention later in the day.

Such a move seems unlikely to win much support: Anti-government protesters worry that Saudi troops will be used to clear Pearl Roundabout. And even some government supporters fear the economic impact of what would essentially become a foreign invasion.

"Who would want to do business here if there are Saudi tanks rolling across the causeway?" asked Abdullah Salaheddin, a Bahraini banker, last week, referring to the 26-kilometre causeway which connects the island kingdom to Saudi Arabia.

Abdulrahman bin Hamad al-Attiya, the secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the regional bloc that counts both Saudi Arabia and Bahrain among its members, gave a nod to military intervention in a statement on Sunday; he said that "safeguarding security and stability in one [GCC] country is a collective responsibility."

Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, said if GCC troops confront protesters, as some fear, the situation will most likely escalate.

"That would be the unthinkable," he said.

Calls for martial law

Separately, a parliament group asked Bahrain's king on Monday to impose martial law after a month of unrest that has left the tiny Gulf nation sharply divided between minority Sunni Muslims backing the ruling system and Shia majority demanding sweeping changes.

The parliament bloc's statement, carried by the state-run Bahrain News Agency, asked for a three-month declaration of martial law and claimed "extremist movements" were trying to disrupt the country and push it toward sectarian conflict.

The appeal also seeks a curfew and the dispatch of army units around the country.

This comes as tense calm is reported in Bahrain as residents wait to see whether more violent clashes will erupt in the capital.

Witnesses in Manama say the capital of the tiny Gulf state has been unnaturally quiet on Monday morning, with downtown roads largely empty except in the area around Pearl Roundabout, the heart of Bahrain's month-old protest movement. Demonstrators have set up barricades on some roads to block commuters.

It was a different scene yesterday, when riot police used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters camped in front of Bahrain Financial Harbour, a waterfront commercial hub. Dozens of protesters sought medical help after the attack.

There were also clashes between pro- and anti-government groups at the University of Bahrain in the southern city of Sakhir. The school has now suspended all of its classes indefinitely. Tweet