Police, protesters clash in Bahrain

17 Feb 2013, 1:36 pm   -   Source: AAP

Angry mourners and police have clashed in Bahrain during the funeral of a 16-year-old boy shot dead by security forces.

Angry mourners and police have clashed in Bahrain during the funeral of a 16-year-old boy shot dead by security forces.

The security forces blocked access to Hussein al-Jaziri's funeral in the Shi'ite-populated village of Daih near the capital Manama, firing tear gas and stun grenades to disperse dozens of people trying to push their way through.

Jaziri, 16, died on Thursday after being shot in the stomach by security forces, according to Al-Wefaq, the main Shi'ite opposition bloc, during Shi'ite-led protests against the kingdom's Sunni rulers in which a policeman was also killed.

The BNA news agency reported that two police officers had been placed in "preventive detention" in connection with Jaziri's death.

After Saturday's burial, which witnesses said was attended by thousands of people, a crowd of protesters tried to march on "Pearl Square" in Manama, the focus of the February-March 2011 uprising.

Witnesses said several people were injured when police fired tear gas to disperse them. One was seriously wounded when hit by buckshot fired by security forces, Al-Wefaq said on Twitter.

The authorities earlier said four people were arrested after an overnight attack on security forces that wounded four policemen.

It came during unrest that began on Friday when protesters blocked a highway linking a string of Shi'ite villages with the capital.

The interior ministry said in a statement that it had "arrested four terrorists possessing weapons with which they had fired on security forces in Karzakan," a Shi'ite village southwest of Manama.

The latest unrest comes against the background of a fresh round of a national dialogue between opposition groups and the government.

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