MANAMA

A policeman was injured when he was hit in the head by a stone during clashes with students outside the US Embassy yesterday. Riot police were forced to use teargas to disperse students who hurled stones at the embassy and police, said an Interior Ministry statement.

Violence flared at what started as a peaceful protest over the murder of Hamas founder and spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, said Mina Salman Security director Colonel Daij Al Binali.

Yassin was killed in an Israeli air attack as he left a mosque in Palestine's Gaza Strip on Monday.

Col Al Binali said a march by students from Al Jabariya Technical Secondary School and Shaikh Abdulaziz Secondary School for Boys started out peacefully.

They were originally marching towards Manama, but then turned towards the embassy, he said.

Police put up barricades to stop the students and were forced to used teargas to disperse them, said Col Al Binali.

He said one policeman was hurt when he was struck in the head by a stone.