Bahrain police block march on royal palace

MANAMA Bahraini police blocked several thousand protesters from reaching the royal palace on Friday, amid fears the march would spark fighting on a Gulf island where the majority is Shi'ite Muslim but the ruling family is Sunni.

Carrying Bahraini flags and flowers, the mainly Shi'ite protesters walked from the Aly area toward Riffa, a district where Sunnis and members of the Sunni royal family live. Near a clocktower in Riffa, hundreds of residents armed with clubs and knives gathered to protect their neighborhood.

More than 200 riot police armed with batons blocked off the road with barbed wire, persuading most protesters to go home.

Police pushed back a group of rock-throwing Sunnis who approached police lines and fired tear gas to disperse Shi'ites trying to get around the roadblock.

"The royal family has lots of palaces and houses here. We're peaceful. We want to go to their house and ask for our rights," said Ahmed Jaafar, as he set off from Aly. "Power should not be with one family, it should be with the people."

Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet, has been gripped by the worst unrest since the 1990s when protesters took to the streets last month, inspired by uprisings that unseated entrenched autocratic rulers in Egypt and Tunisia.

Seven people have been killed in clashes with security forces and thousands of the February 14 youth movement still occupy Pearl roundabout, a busy traffic intersection in Manama's financial district, but the opposition is increasingly split.

Moderate opposition leaders had urged hardliners to cancel the march, warning it could spark clashes between Shi'ites protesting against the government and Sunnis who support it.

Hours earlier, Bahrain's top Shi'ite Muslim cleric warned protesters not to slip into a sectarian conflict that would undermine the opposition's campaign for political reform.

"I say to all our people, Sunnis and Shi'ite, that it is forbidden to shed the blood of anyone under any pretext. We must all hold those who are inciting sectarian conflict accountable," Sheikh Issa Qassim said in his Friday sermon.

The protests come on a day of rallies in neighboring Saudi Arabia, the world's No. 1 oil exporter, where protests are banned. On Thursday, police dispersed a gathering in its Eastern Province, home to Shi'ites and joined to Bahrain by a causeway.

Both sides are watching closely, as any weakening of the government in either of the neighbors could cause contagion.

SECTARIAN SPLITS

Unlike mostly Sunni Tunisia and Egypt, Bahrain is divided between Shi'ites, who have long complained of discrimination in access to jobs and services, and the Sunni minority.

Over half of Bahrain's 1.2 million population are foreigners. Bahrainis disagree on the exact figures but analysts say over 60 percent of Bahraini nationals are Shi'ite.

Moderates led by the largest Shi'ite party, Wefaq, want a government reshuffle and wide-ranging reforms and held a less provocative rally that dwarfed the march on the palace.

Tens of thousands of protesters, carrying Bahraini flags, walked from Seef Mall to the Pearl roundabout, demanding constitutional reforms that vest more power in the people.

"Oh Khalifa, we want a clean government," they chanted, referring to royal family al-Khalifa.

The coalition of much smaller Shi'ite parties behind the march on the royal court are calling for the overthrow of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic -- demands that have scared Sunnis who fear this would play into the hands of the oil-producing Gulf's main Shi'ite power, non-Arab Iran.

On Thursday, the political and economic bloc of Gulf Arab oil producers announced a $20 billion aid package for Bahrain and Oman, both of which are facing anti-government protests.

(Additional reporting by Warda Al-Jawahiry; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)