Police in Bahrain clashed with mourners at the funeral of a Shi'ite protester shot dead during an anti-government "Day of Rage" and one person was killed in the melee, witnesses and police said Tuesday. Witnesses said the clashes broke out when around 2000 people set out from the hospital to slowly escort the body of slain protester Ali Mushaima through narrow alleys of Shi'ite villages on the outskirts of Bahrain's capital towards his home, where his body was to be washed before burial. The death of the mourner enraged others at the funeral, who began chanting anti-government slogans inspired by protests that toppled the rulers of Egypt and Tunisia: "We demand the downfall of the regime," they chanted. Diplomats say Bahrain's protests, organised on the internet, may gauge whether a larger Shi'ite base can be drawn to the streets to raise pressure on the state for reforms that would give Shi'ites a greater voice and better economic prospects. Analysts say large-scale unrest in Bahrain could also embolden fellow marginalised Shi'ites in nearby Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter. Mushaima, the 22-year-old man being buried Tuesday, was killed Monday in clashes in Daih village as security forces clamped down on Shi'ite areas in the Gulf Arab kingdom, where a Sunni family rules over a Shi'ite majority that complains of discrimination. Ibrahim Mattar, a member of parliament from the Shi'ite opposition group Wefaq, told Reuters that police had tried to disperse the funeral procession using tear gas, but that mourners then regrouped and continued their procession. Wefaq's Mattar said the man killed Tuesday had been shot. BAHRAIN TO PROBE PROTEST DEATH Bahrain police said the mourners had clashed with four police vehicles at the scene when one of them broke down and the other three were trying to remove it. One of the participants in the clashes, Fadhel Salman Matrook, was wounded and later died in hospital. Bahrain's Ministry of Interior said it had offered condolences to the family of the protester killed Monday and would take legal action if the use of force was found to be unjustified. "I am confident truth will prevail," Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said, adding that it would be wrong to jump to conclusions and blame police. "No one accepts what happened. It's a sad feeling and all Bahrainis are hurt. Bahrain, in a move appeared aimed at preventing Shi'ite discontent from boiling, had offered cash payouts in the run-up to the "Day of Rage" protest on February 14, which took place mainly in Shi'ite villages outside of Manama. Bahrain is a small non-OPEC oil-producer whose Shi'ite population has long complained of discrimination by the ruling Sunni al-Khalifa family. Officials deny there is discrimination. King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, trying to take the steam out of protests, has said he would give 1,000 dinars (1,650.47 pounds) to each local family, and the government has indicated that it may free minors arrested under a security crackdown last year. Non-OPEC Bahrain, which unlike Gulf Arab peers has little spare cash to use for social problems, has also said it would spend an extra $417 million on social items, including food subsidies, reversing attempts to prepare the public for cuts.
