MANAMA, April 10: Bahrain police fired teargas to disperse about 2,000 pro-Palestinian protesters trying to march on the heavily fortified US embassy on Wednesday.

Eyewitnesses said security forces also used rubber bullets to scatter the crowd that swarmed around the mission chanting “Death to America, Death to Israel”.

Before they disbanded, some protesters burned tyres on roads leading to the embassy, which has been surrounded by hundreds of policemen since a riot on Friday in which petrol bombs were flung into the compound.

There were no fatalities, but a health official said about 450 people were rushed to a Manama hospital with respiratory complaints, three others suffered bruises and one sustained a “slight” head injury, the official news agency reported.

A Bahraini man died of injuries sustained during Friday’s rally.

“The police kept demonstrators well away from the embassy and no embassy security had to take any action,” said a spokesman for the embassy, which was closed during the protest.

“We are in contact with the Bahraini authorities and we are constantly monitoring the security situation.” Several Western residents of the island state said they were advised by their embassies to stay home especially on Friday when thousands of Muslim worshipers gather for a weekly sermon.

Bahrain, home to the US Fifth Fleet, has seen some of the most violent demonstrations in the Gulf against Israel’s military offensive in Palestinian areas in the West Bank.

As in many other countries, US interests have been targeted by protesters angry at Washington’s support for Israel.

In the Egyptian port of Alexandria, thousands of people also protested on Wednesday, against a student’s death a day earlier in clashes between pro-Palestinian protesters and police.

Four leading Shi’ite Muslim clerics called on Bahrainis to avoid marching on diplomatic missions on Wednesday.

“The message the Bahraini people tried to deliver to the American administration has been heard,” their statement said.

“Any escalation in the situation without control will affect us all and will not benefit the Palestinian cause.”

Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa on Tuesday called on citizens to march peacefully and avoid any violence.

“We very much appreciate the statement made by his majesty the king last night and the statement made today by the four religious clerics asking for calm,” the embassy spokesman said.

Later on Wednesday some 100 Bahraini intellectuals and actors held a peaceful demonstration in front of a United Nations office in Manama.

US protesters: Seventy-nine people were arrested on Tuesday after pro-Palestinian protesters tried to take over a building on the University of California, Berkeley campus, to demand the USA’s largest public university system divest from companies doing business with Israel.

University spokesman Bob Sanders said the arrests occurred in Wheeler Hall after a raucous day that saw pro-Palestinian protesters face off with Jewish students holding a public vigil to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust.—Reuters