Bahrain arrests activists after week of unrest
MANAMA, Dec 22 (Reuters) - Authorities in Bahrain have arrested at least eight Shi'ite activists and a number of protesters after a week of unrest in the Gulf island state, an opposition group said on Saturday.
Bahraini media reports said that in Thursday's unrest some 500 demonstrators, angry over the death of a protester who had inhaled teargas earlier in the week, threw petrol bombs and stones at security forces in the north of the island, a U.S.-allied Sunni-led kingdom.
"We have been able to confirm the arrest of eight activists in a wide sweep, but security forces have also detained ordinary protesters, some of whom have been released," said Abdaljalil al-Singace, spokesman for the Shi'ite-led Haq Movement of Liberties and Democracy.
"Demonstrations are continuing in several villages as I speak and police are surrounding some of them," Singace told Reuters by telephone.
Bahraini officials could not be reached immediately for comment. Police told the state news agency BNA late on Friday that some of those arrested were involved in street clashes in which protesters set ablaze a police vehicle after taking weapons from it on Thursday.
Shi'ites complain of discrimination at the hands of the Sunni-led government and violent protests gripped Bahrain during the 1980s and 1990s when their demands were met with arrests and expulsions.
Authorities deny there is any discrimination and cite a shortage of resources in the Gulf Arab region's least wealthy country.
Since coming to power in 1999, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has introduced some reforms, including pardoning political prisoners and exiles. (Writing by Firouz Sedarat, Gulf newsroom; Editing by Giles Elgood)
