MANAMA (Reuters) - Police in Bahrain used teargas to break up the funeral procession of a Shi'ite protester killed in clashes on an anti-government "Day of Rage," witnesses said on Tuesday, and another person was reported to have died.
The 22-year-old protester was shot and killed on Monday in clashes in the village of Daih as security forces clamped down on Shi'ite areas in the Gulf Arab kingdom, where a Sunni family rules over a Shi'ite majority.
"They were dispersed with teargas close to the hospital and then gathered again," Ibrahim Mattar, a member of parliament from the Shi'ite opposition group Wefaq, told Reuters.
Diplomats say Bahrain's protests, organised on Facebook and Twitter, would help gauge whether a larger base of Shi'ites can be drawn onto the streets to heighten pressure on the government for reforms that would give Shi'ites a greater voice.
Analysts say large-scale unrest in Bahrain could also embolden marginalised Shi'ites in nearby Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter.
Mattar said a second protester had died on Tuesday but that it was not clear whether he was killed on Tuesday or died of wounds sustained during Monday's protests. Arab satellite television channel Al Jazeera reported he was killed in clashes at the funeral procession.
Bahrain's Ministry of Interior said on Twitter it had offered condolences to the family of the protester killed on Monday and would take legal action if the use of force was found to be unjustified.
Bahrain offered cash payouts in the run-up to the "Day of Rage" protest on February 14, a move appeared aimed at preventing Shi'ite discontent from boiling over into Egyptian- and Tunisian-style "people power" revolts.
Bahrain is a small non-OPEC oil-producer whose Shi'ite population has long complained of discrimination by the ruling Sunni al-Khalifa family.
(Reporting by Frederik Richter; Writing by Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Janet Lawrence)