video transcript

The funeral procession in Bahrain's capital Manama for a 23-year-old Shi'ite activist Mohammed Ali Ahmed Mushaima. Last year he was jailed for 7 years after taking part in pro-democracy uprising. Bahraini officials said Mohammed who was in hospital since August, died of complications from sickle cell disease. But opposition activists accused the authorities of causing his death by denying him treatment. Thousands of people, mostly Shi'ites, gathered for Mushaima's funeral which passed peacefully. But the gathering turned violent when police stopped hundreds of people trying to march to the Pearl Roundabout, the centre of last year's uprising. Police used water cannons to disperse the crowd. Protesters lobbed petrol bombs and stones. Clashes between protesters and police still occur almost daily in Bahrain. The Bahraini government has denounced the protest movement as sectarian, and part of a quest by Shi'ite Iran to dominate the region. But both Iran and Bahraini Shi'ites deny the claims.