The General Director of the Muharraq Governorate Police has clarified events surrounding a funeral in Muharraq on Saturday. The funeral was for Yousif Ahmed Abbas, who drowned off the Amwaj Islands near Galali on January 13.
The family of the deceased man received the body on Saturday and went to the cemetery to bury him. When a group of mourners then attempted to carry the body in a procession on the main road the police warned them to disperse several times. However, they disobeyed and continued their unauthorized procession while shouting political slogans.
Residents from the nearby area of Busaiteen headed to the area, some of them armed with clubs and sticks. Several nearby shops were broken into and vandalized. Four arrests were made.
The General Director said that the police had to intervene and deal with the situation in order to protect the peace and prevent clashes between the mourners and the residents of the area.