MANAMA, Bahrain, April 19 (UPI) -- Bahrain authorities said demonstrators were arrested after assaulting police and citizens and hurling Molotov cocktails, iron rods and stones.
The arrests Wednesday -- the official Bahrain News Agency did not say how many -- come ahead of this weekend's Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix.
"A group of rioters have today been arrested for staging illegal demonstrations and rallies, and disrupting public and private interests," the official news agency said.
BNA said Public Security Chief Maj. Gen. Tariq Hassan al-Hassan said in a statement "such acts of sabotage contravene the legally guaranteed freedom of opinion and threatened civic peace" and vowed "zero tolerance against acts of sabotage and violence in conformity with the law provisions."
CNN reported Alwefaq Sheik Ali Salman, the general secretary of al-Wefaq, Bahrain's main Shiite opposition party, said rallies will continue until the ruling Sunni royal family is removed.
Motorsport's governing body decided last week to hold the Formula One in Bahrain.
During the weekend, the Bahrain Youth Coalition called for "popular days of overwhelming rage."
In recent days, protests have occurred in Shiite villages around the capital of Manama, CNN said.
The race was canceled twice last year because of concerns about safety.
The arrests came after Amnesty International faulted Bahrain for "half-hearted" efforts to address serious human rights concerns in the country.
