Manama (Bahrain), Feb 18, (PTI): Thousands of mourners called for the downfall of Bahrain's ruling monarchy as burials began today after a deadly assault on pro-reform protesters that has brought army tanks into the streets of one of the most strategic Western allies in the Gulf. 

The cries against Bahrain's king and his inner circle reflect an escalation of the demands from a political uprising that began just with calls to weaken the Sunni monarchy's hold on top government posts and address claims of discrimination against the Shiite majority in the tiny island nation.

The mood, however, appears to have turned toward defiance of the entire ruling system after the brutal attack on yesterday on a protest encampment in Bahrain's capital Manama, which left at least five dead and more than 230 injured.

"The regime has broken something inside of me ... All of these people gathered today have had something broken in them," said Ahmed Makki Abu Taki, whose 23-year-old brother Mahmoud was killed in the pre-dawn sweep through the protest camp in
Manama's Pearl Square. "We used to demand for the Prime Minister to step down, but now our demand is for the ruling family to get out."

Outside a village mosque, several thousands mourners gathered to bury three men killed in the crackdown. The first body, covered in black velvet, was passed hand to hand toward a grave as it was being dug.

Amid the Shiite funeral rites, many chanted for the removal of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and the entire Sunni dynasty that has ruled for more than two centuries in Bahrain, the first nation in the Gulf to feel the pressure for changes sweeping the Arab world.

"The government has shaken something inside us all and we have lost all trust in it," said Mohamed Ali, 40, a civil servant as he choked back tears. "Our demands were peaceful and simple at first. We wanted the prime minister to step down. Now the demands are harsher and have reached the pinnacle of the pyramid. We want the whole government to fall."

There were no security forces near the mosque on the island of Sitra, where three of those killed had lived.

The White House, in the meanwhile, has expressed "strong displeasure" about the rising tensions in Bahrain, which is home to the US Navy's 5th Fleet and the centerpiece of the Pentagon's efforts to confront growing Iranian military ambitions in the region.

The capital and other areas remained under the close watch of the military and police which includes various nationalities from around the region under a policy by Bahrain's ruling system to give citizenship and jobs to other Sunnis to try to offset the Shiites, who account for about 70 percent of the population.