Bahrain Faces Riots After Boy Dies in Protest

Riot police officers in Bahrain fired tear gas and stun grenades on Saturday in clashes with protesters who broke away from a funeral procession for a 17-year-old boy killed the day before during street battles with the security forces.Thousands of mourners took part in the funeral march, chanting antigovernment slogans and waving Bahraini flags. Later, smaller groups of several hundred demonstrators broke away and hurled stones at police units. There were no immediate reports of injuries. The death of the boy late Friday could stir more tensions between the forces backing the Sunni-led monarchy and groups from Bahrain’s Shiite majority who are seeking a greater voice in the country’s political affairs. More than 50 people have died, including protesters and police officers, in almost 20 months of political turmoil in Bahrain, an island nation in the Persian Gulf and the headquarters of the United States Navy’s Fifth Fleet. The Shiite-led protests are aimed at breaking the Sunni minority rulers’ monopoly on power in Bahrain. They started in February 2011 and were inspired by other Arab Spring revolts against authoritarian governments in the region. Bahrain’s largest Shiite political bloc, Al Wefaq, said the security forces killed the boy, Ali Hussein Niema, 17, when they fired birdshot — used often by the riot police in Bahrain — during street clashes on Friday in the village of Sadad, southwest of the capital, Manama. Last month, a 16-year-old boy was also shot and killed during a protest. Bahrain’s Interior Ministry confirmed that one person had been killed in what it described as a terrorist attack on a security patrol that included firebombs thrown at the police.