Teen protester killed in Bahrain

Bahraini anti-government protesters participate in a rally in Sitra.

Bahraini anti-government protesters participate in a rally in Sitra.

Published Feb 14, 2013

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Manama -

A teenage boy was shot dead during clashes with police in a Shi’a village near Manama on Thursday as hundreds took to the streets to mark the second anniversary of an uprising in the Sunni-ruled kingdom.

“The child Hussein al-Jaziri was martyred after he was wounded by shotgun fire in Dia,” Bahrain's major Shi'a opposition bloc Al-Wefaq announced on Twitter.

A source from Al-Wefaq's media centre reached by telephone confirmed the death to AFP.

The interior ministry said on its Twitter account that “a wounded person who was brought to Al-Salmaniya hospital was pronounced dead and the public prosecution was informed of the incident”. It gave no further details.

Protests erupted early morning in several Shi’a villages as the opposition marked two years since the start of an uprising that has left Bahrain in a political deadlock, witnesses said.

Police fired shotgun and tear gas to disperse the protesters who responded by hurling petrol bombs at security forces, according to witnesses.

The protests came in response to calls by opposition groups for strikes and nationwide protests on Thursday and Friday to mark the uprising that began on February 14, 2011.

The clandestine radical cyber group February 14 Revolution Youth Coalition has urged marches on what was once known as Pearl Square, where protesters camped for a month before being forcefully driven out in mid-March 2011.

Bahraini authorities have in turn appealed for people to ignore the calls for strikes and civil disobedience.

The two years of unrest in Bahrain has left at least 80 people dead, according to the International Federation for Human Rights. - Sapa-AFP

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