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Fourteen
people have been injured in clashes in eastern Saudi Arabia, state media say.
They said
the unrest in the province of Qatif late on Monday had been incited by "a
foreign country", without elaborating.
Saudi
Arabia's minority Shia population is concentrated in the east, the scene of
protests earlier this year.
State media
said eight of those wounded were security personnel and three were civilians.
State news
agency SPA quoted the interior ministry as saying that "a group of outlaws
and rioters on motorbikes" had gathered in al-Awamia village near the city
of Qatif, "carrying petrol bombs".
The group
was responsible for acts leading to "insecurity with incitement from a
foreign country that aims to undermine the nation's security and
stability", SPA reported.
Saudi
mentions of foreign meddling are normally veiled references to Iran, the
region's main Shia power, observers say.
In March,
Saudi police opened fire to disperse protesters in Qatif, a day before planned
countrywide anti-government protests.
The protesters,
from the Shia minority, were demanding the release of prisoners they said had
been held without charge.
Protests
are illegal in Saudi Arabia, which has had an absolute monarchy since its
unification in the 1930s.
Rights
groups have accused the police of beating protesters during previous rallies in
Qatif.
Shias make
up about 10% of the population in Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia.
Saudi
Arabia has not seen protests on the same scale as other nations in the Middle
East and North Africa during the so-called Arab Spring.
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