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MANAMA — Security forces conducted sweeps through Shiite villages in Bahrain on Saturday, arresting several protesters involved in a week of demonstrations against the Sunni-led government, witnesses and opposition groups said.
Large numbers of police could be seen around the northern villages where protests erupted on Thursday, sparked by the death of a demonstrator earlier in the week. Police also set up numerous security checkpoints throughout the small Persian Gulf island kingdom.
Abdul-Jalil Khalil, a parliamentarian with the Shiite opposition Wefaq bloc, said that Sanabis, a village on the outskirts of the capital Manama, was "under siege" for the fourth night and its entrance blocked by checkpoints.
"I saw drivers harshly beaten after being forced out of their cars on the pretext police were looking for suspects," he said.
The Haq Movement for Liberty and Democracy, another opposition group, issued a statement saying at least 23 people had been detained and three had to be hospitalized after being abused by police.
An Interior Ministry official confirmed that security forces made arrests but would not say how many had been detained. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, also confirmed checkpoints had been set up in areas where there had been unrest.
Hundreds of family members of the detained staged an hour-long sit-in outside the police station in the village of Bani Jamra on Saturday evening, demanding information about the incarcerated. A similar sit-in at the southern village of Malkiya turned violent and relatives were dispersed.
Shiites account for about 70 percent of Bahrain's 450,000 citizens, but the ruling family is Sunni. Economic disparities between the ruling elite and the poorer majority have contributed to feelings of marginalization among Shiites, who have waged an occasionally violent campaign against the government.
The clashes began on Monday, during demonstrations marking 10 years since a leading Shiite figure died in a wave of protests over perceived discrimination of the Muslim sect by the Sunni rulers of the country.
One demonstrator, Ali Jassem, died after inhaling tear gas in Monday's clashes and protests flared anew.
