Self-branded "Business Friendly Bahrain" is fighting to save its reputation as a secure and liberal Gulf financial centre.

That's a tough sell after a fierce army crackdown two weeks ago quashed weeks of pro-democracy protests

We'd never seen armies in the streets.

Now you get up in the morning and drive out to see tanks, your car gets inspected by men wearing masks.

It's like a war zone," said one expatriate Arab banker, who asked not to be named.

One long-term Bahrain investor said eerie background whispers about beatings, disappearances and sectarian tensions have made him uneasy about keeping his financial advisory projects here, already stalled by a month during the protests.