Riot police fire tear gas at Bahrain funeral protest
Sunday 03 July 2011
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EmailRiot police fired tear gas on Saturday at protesters denouncing reconciliation talks between the Gulf kingdom's ruling Khalifa family and opposition forces just hours after the dialogue began.
Protesters gathered near a landmark square in Manama after a funeral for civil rights activist Majid Ahmed Mohammed, who died on Thursday in a military hospital from injuries sustained during the military crackdown on protests in March.
Several hundred marchers chanted "No dialogue" hours after a ceremony to open the talks in the state, which is home to the US navy's 5th Fleet.
Mr Mohammed is believed to be the 32nd Bahraini citizen to have died as a result of the crackdown that began in February.
Hundreds of opposition supporters, including trade unionists and other democrats, have been taken into custody and authorities have purged universities of staff deemed to have been sympathetic to the protests.
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