Deaths galvanize Bahrain protesters

Deaths galvanize Bahrain protesters: "Over a thousand mourners, some pounding their chests in ritual rhythm and others carrying sweet stems of basil, gathered in Bahrain on Wednesday to bury a man whose death they hope may spur change in the Gulf Arab kingdom.

They escorted the shot-peppered body of Fadel Matrouk, wrapped in white cotton and draped with a green Islamic flag, through the winding alleyways of a poor neighbourhood in the capital Manama to a cemetery where he was washed for burial.

One of two men from the island’s disadvantaged Shi’ite majority killed in clashes with police since Monday, Matrouk died on Tuesday during the funeral of the other young protester, who was killed on Monday, Feb. 14 — Bahrain’s “Day of Rage”."