The World - Bahrain edgy after clashes pit Shiites against security forces - The oil-rich Persian Gulf nation's ruling class is Sunni Muslim. An activist's death set off a week of street fighting.

The street fighting, sparked by the death of an activist, was some of the worst since a 1990s Shiite uprising and led to an undetermined number of injured and the arrest of dozens.

"This is something that will not go away very easily," said Mansoor Jamri, editor in chief of Al Wasat, a daily newspaper in the capital, Manama. "The death of one person is not something to be forgotten."

Wealthy and relatively cosmopolitan, Bahrain, with a population of more than 700,000, is a strong American ally and home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols the Persian Gulf. But it is also badly divided: Its majority Shiite population complains of political and economic discrimination at the hands of the Sunni-dominated minority that makes up the ruling Khalifa royal family, dominates security forces and controls the most powerful government positions.

At the height of the clashes, over the weekend, security forces battled more than 1,000 demonstrators lobbing Molotov cocktails, setting tires on fire and smashing shop windows with iron bars, according to witnesses, local journalists and official press accounts. Photographs showed masked, black-clad young men tossing objects at white-helmeted police officers, smoke rising behind.

The government accused the demonstrators of stealing two semiautomatic assault rifles from a police vehicle that they then set ablaze. At least one police officer was seriously injured in the clashes, according to the official Bahrain News Agency.

Police responded by arresting suspected demonstrators. On Wednesday, leaders of one Shiite opposition faction began a hunger strike to protest the crackdown. Relatives of those arrested crowded around the prosecutor's office Tuesday before police forced them to leave.

Bahrain's Shura Council, or upper house, condemned the clashes in a statement issued Monday.

The unrest began Dec. 17 during an annual commemoration of a 1994 clash between security forces and Shiite protesters that left two activists dead. This year, police fired tear gas at demonstrators. One, Ali Jassem, 31, ran home, complained of chest pains and died shortly afterward.