DUBAI // Some Bahraini residents are retreating to Dubai following the declaration of a state of emergency and the widening of crackdowns against protests.
"A lot of my classmates have left for Dubai or England, mainly starting on Tuesday," said Eleanor Yates, a 17-year-old student who arrived on Thursday to stay with her sister.
She plans to stay here for at least 10 days, she said.
Her parents, who live in Saar, Bahrain, may join them if the violence escalates.
Several commercial flights from Bahrain arrive in Dubai daily, though it is unclear how many passengers have travelled to escape the trouble there. Britain yesterday urged its nationals in Bahrain to leave, while the US this week advised Americans to "consider departing".
Noora Marwan, a 27-year-old Bahraini who works for the ministry of culture there, said other family members had left as well, including her sister who lived near Pearl Roundabout.
"Right now there is general panic," she said.
Shoaib Sandeela, a 35-year-old Pakistani investment banker, said his company was moving all of its two dozen employees in Bahrain to Saudi Arabia or Dubai for a few weeks.
Passengers arriving from Bahrain told of hearing gunshots near their homes as protesters closed off streets and bridges and battled between with police.
"When I heard gunfire near my house I decided to get my wife and kids out of there," said Chris George, 39, a British finance director who travelled to Dubai with his wife and two children.
"I will assess the situation in a week and see if we could return then."
Some travellers who lived away from Manama's trouble spots said they had still caught glimpses of helicopters overhead and tanks on the street.
Jeff Pafford, a 44-year-old American, said he had seen members of the opposition carrying weapons. "We live so far out of town that we didn't feel that something out of the ordinary was happening, had it not been for the TV," he said. "On the way to the airport though we saw the checkpoints and protesters with axes."
Haytham Alzghoul, a 31-year-old Jordanian engineer who had just returned from a business trip to Bahrain, said he had been in the Shiite neighbourhood of Sitra shortly before violence reportedly broke out there.
His work team had spent just three hours at their project site in Sitra when they heard that Saudi forces were coming and decided to leave. On Tuesday, 200 people there were reportedly shot and wounded, a medic told Reuters.
"I told people, 'If anyone asks my name tell them it's Hussein or Ali'," Mr Alzghoul said half-jokingly, referring to Shiite names.
He said he spent the rest of the trip working from his hotel.
ealghalib@thenational.ae