Protests follow funeral of Bahraini teenager 'killed by police'

A protest broke out in Bahrain Tuesday after thousands of mourners attended the funeral of a teenager whose family says was killed of injuries suffered in a police chase.

Demonstrators blocked roads and hurled stones at security forces, who responded with tear gas, according to witnesses.

Ali Abdulghani, 17, who died on Monday, was injured four days earlier as he was being chased by police, his family said in a statement released by Bahrain's main Shia opposition movement, Al-Wefaq.

Rights groups including the European Centre for Democracy and Human Rights have demanded an impartial investigation into his death, saying the injuries had been inflicted during arrest.

Mourners crowded into the cemetery of the village of Shahrakkan on the outskirts of the capital Manama carrying posters of the "martyr" Abdulghani, witnesses said.

The unrest came on the eve of the arrival in Bahrain of US Secretary of State John Kerry to take part in a meeting with his Arab counterparts in the Gulf.

Bahraini activists said several protesters were arrested after the funeral procession.

Bahrain has been shaken by unrest since it quelled a month-long Shia-led uprising demanding reforms which erupted on February 14, 2011.

The tiny but strategic Sunni-ruled kingdom is home to the US Fifth Fleet.