Saudi Arabia said it arrested several “troublemakers” in its Eastern Province yesterday while an activist said police wounded and detained protesters there after a demonstration.

Among those arrested was Mohamed al-Shakhouri, one of 23 people wanted by the security forces, the official Saudi Press Agency quoted an interior ministry spokesman as saying.

The activist, who said he witnessed the unrest but declined to be named, told Reuters that protesters marched for three hours in Qatif city.

“During the march there was no police presence and when it was over the armoured vehicles started entering the city, and that is when the protesters began to block roads with flaming tyres and throw Molotov cocktails,” he said.

Police on the armoured vehicles then started shooting at the protesters in the early hours of yesterday, injuring around 14 including Shakhouri who was arrested, the activist said.

Mansour al-Turki, the interior ministry spokesman, told Reuters the gathering did not exceed 300 people and said the arrests of the “troublemakers” had nothing to do with the gathering, which occurred in a different part of the city.

“The troublemakers blocked the roads and the police received many calls of complaint. There was no live firing and there weren’t any injuries. Some were arrested and they will be investigated,” he said.

Early this month, prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, wanted for “sedition”, was arrested after being shot in the leg by police in an exchange of fire, prompting demonstrations.

In mid-July, Saudi security forces shot and killed a man who was among a group that opened fire and hurled a fire-bomb at a police station in the province, while four members of the security forces were wounded in a separate attack by masked gunmen on motorbikes who fired at two patrols, according to official media.