p>(Prensa Latina)

Bahrain police fired tear gas and plastic bullets against Shiites opponents that marched on the Pearl Square, two days after the lifting of the state of emergency in the kingdom.

Security forces repeated the repression of last March, but no injuries were reported when the monarchy of Al Khalifa violently crushed the demonstrations of the majority Shiite population against the government.

Friday’s marches, which followed the noon prayers and continued in the evening prayers, were the most significant since the regime imposed a curfew in March and declared a state of emergency with the support of foreign military forces.

Many people had gathered in the Sanabis village, adjacent to the Pearl Square, to honor Altaj Zainab, a woman who the opposition said yesterday died from tear gas inhalation, although the government ruled death by natural causes.

In addition, thousands of people attended the funeral of Salman Abu Idris, a 63 year old man, who died at the hospital from wounds inflicted by the police when attacked demonstrators in March.

Witnesses said the demonstrators carried banners with demands for democratic changes and political reforms as well as the resignation of the Executive, when they were intercepted when heading to the space where the monument of The Pearl was.

The square, next to the business center of Manama, became the epicenter of the Shiite opposition protests for greater democracy first, and then for an end of the Sunni domination of the Al Khalifa, but the authorities bulldozed and demolished the monument.