Over a thousand mourners, some pounding their chests in ritual rhythm and others carrying sweet stems of basil, gathered in Bahrain on Wednesday to bury a man whose death they hope may spur change in the Gulf Arab kingdom.

They escorted the shot-peppered body of Fadel Matrouk, wrapped in white cotton and draped with a green Islamic flag, through the winding alleyways of a poor neighbourhood in the capital Manama to a cemetery where he was washed for burial.

One of two men from the island’s disadvantaged Shi’ite majority killed in clashes with police since Monday, Matrouk died on Tuesday during the funeral of the other young protester, who was killed on Monday, Feb. 14 — Bahrain’s “Day of Rage”.

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Behind the men, many hundreds of women in black robes followed, some carrying their young children on their hips.

“Peaceful, peaceful,” they chanted.

“There are no Sunnis or Shi’ites, just Bahraini unity.”

The protests in Bahrain, where several thousand were also camped out in a central Manama square, have been small compared to mass demonstrations that toppled rulers in Egypt and Tunisia.

But the protesters — from opposition politicians to bankers to web-savvy youth and labourers — say they are keen to stay the course and their tone has hardened following the deaths.

The Interior Ministry has promised to take legal action over the killings if it finds police used unjustifiable force.

“I am shocked we have finally woken up,” said Nawaf al-Said, 31, a medical student from a mixed Sunni-Shi’ite family who came to the funeral in a suit. “It will continue peacefully.”

“My mom, she was always the one fearing me going to marches,” he said. “And last night she went.”

Many marchers said they wanted a constitutional monarchy in Bahrain, where the king would no longer have ultimate control but serve as figurehead only. They also want direct elections for a prime minister to replace the king’s uncle, who has held the post for the 40 years since independence from Britain.

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Bahrain is the home to the US 5th Fleet, an enormous complement of ships, sailors, marines, aircraft and all the support personnel.  It looks so far that none of the protesting is directed towards those facilities.

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