Bahraini police on Friday fired tear gas to disperse demonstrations in four Shiite villages near the capital Manama

Bahraini police on Friday fired tear gas to disperse demonstrations in four Shiite villages near the capital Manama, witnesses said.

The protests broke out despite a major deployment of security forces in the villages south and west of the capital and a state of emergency imposed by King Hamad on March 15, the witnesses said.

The next day the authorities crushed a month-long Shiite-led uprising against the Sunni rulers of the majority Shiite kingdom.

Witnesses said hundreds of people took part in Friday's protests in Sitra, Sanabes, Burj and Bilad al-Qadim.

In Bilad al-Qadim mourners buried Habi Abdel Aziz, 33, after the authorities handed over the body to his family a week after he went missing.

Opposition MP Matar Matar of the Shiite Al-Wifaq party said the bullet-riddled corpse had been found on a construction site in the village.

Calls to stage protests on Friday were posted on Facebook pages.

A joint Gulf Cooperation Council force entered Bahrain this month to help authorities quell pro-democracy protests in Bahrain, a key Western ally and home to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.