MANAMA, Bahrain: Camped out in the capital city of Manama's Lulu (Pearl) Square, Bahraini protesters pressed demands for a new government on Monday, backed by a teachers' strike that closed many schools.

According to Reuters over 10,000 demonstrators packed Pearl Square, at the heart of week-long protests led by majority Shi'ites who demand more say in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.

Near the group of teachers, a dangerously leaning chair had been erected, representing the government, on top of a box painted blood-red. Arrows were stuck into the chair, which had a rifle strapped to it. They bore labels such as corruption, joblessness, naturalization and the blood of martyrs.

"In the eyes of the people the government has already fallen," said Amir Ahmed, 38, a government oil sector employee.

The opposition is demanding a true constitutional monarchy that gives citizens a greater role in a directly elected government. It also wants the release of political prisoners.

King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has asked his son, the crown prince, to conduct a dialogue with all parties, but after the bloodshed on the streets, opposition parties are wary.

Ibrahim Mattar, a lawmaker of the main Shi'ite Wefaq party, said the crown prince should signal willingness to accept a genuinely constitutional monarchy as a prelude to dialogue.

The demonstrators in Pearl Square were impatient for change.

"The history books will be rewritten. We will sacrifice for the martyrs," said a school-girl who addressed the crowd over loudspeakers, referring to the seven people killed in bloody confrontations with the police and army since last Monday.