Bahrain slipping into abyss of instability as King Hamad’s unbridled State Violence goes unchecked by the USA, King Hamad’s principal ally and supporter

Bahrain streets tense after boy’s funeral
By the CNN Wire Staff – September 1, 2011 — Updated 1937 GMT (0337 HKT)

Sitra, Bahrain (CNN) — Thousands of people took to the streets in Bahrain Thursday as the funeral took place for a 14-year-old boy whose death a day earlier sparked wide anger, witnesses said.

Clashes broken out overnight Wednesday into Thursday between Shiite Muslim protesters and police, after witnesses said they saw Ali Jawad al-Sheikh collapse after riot police fired a tear-gas round at him and other protesters in Sitra, southwest of the capital Manama.

But Nabeel Rajab, president of Bahrain’s Center for Human Rights, who was at the funeral, said the procession had remained calm, with no outbreaks of violence.

He told CNN crowds of people had gathered from the early morning but police had pulled out from the entire area, using helicopters instead to monitor the situation.

Rajab predicted larger protests demanding political reform would take place later Thursday.

“We expect to see protesters out tonight. The February 14 Movement called for a protest tonight in Manama and places around Manama,” he said, adding that tensions had been building in the past three to four weeks, as people lost hope of achieving a political solution to the country’s problems.

Meanwhile, government officials say they are investigating the death and Bahrain’s Interior Ministry has offered a 10,000 Bahraini dinar ($26,400) reward for information leading to the arrest of his killer, state news agency BNA reported Thursday.

The Interior Ministry has said no clashes were taking place at the time the boy was injured, saying that the last reported incident of unrest in the area was around 1:15 a.m. Wednesday.

And a police chief said Thursday that the hospital officials who informed the police they had received the boy’s body did not give any details about the incident or where the body was found, BNA reported.

Bahraini officials said Thursday that the doctor who carried out an autopsy on the body concluded that the cause of death was an injury sustained behind the neck, where there were fractures causing bleeding around the spinal cord.

Blood tests by the forensic laboratory did not show any sign of tear-gas exposure, BNA cited public prosecution chief Osama Al Asfoor as saying.

Bahrain’s interior ministry issued a news release later Thursday, citing the coroner’s report in discounting a fatal hit from a tear-gas canister or rubber bullet.

“The coroner’s report indicates that the markings on Ali’s neck are not consistent with being hit with a tear gas canister or rubber bullet as some have claimed,” the release said. “The markings were too large and suggest that he was hit with a larger object. Further, the coroner’s investigation shows that no tear gas was found in his lungs.”

The release said the youth died “as a result of a serious blow to the back of the neck … that culminated in a blood clot in the brain, which eventually took his life.” …more