MANAMA, Bahrain: The parliament of Bahrain have denounced last week's clashes between police and protesters in majority Shiite areas which left one dead.

A statement said: MPs "strongly condemn all acts which violated law and order" and urged the population to express its demands "through legal channels... to avoid a repetition of (last week's) regrettable incidents."

An uneasy calm returned to majority Shiite areas in Bahrain on Monday after a week of clashes between police and protesters, during which security forces used teargas and fired rubber bullets in Shiite villages.

The disturbances erupted after the death on December 17 of protester Ali Jassem after an opposition demonstration.

Shiites -- the majority group in the small Sunni Muslim-ruled Gulf monarchy -- took to the streets to seek compensation for what they said were human rights violations carried out between 1980 and 1990.