Bahraini protesters clashed with police into yesterday’s early hours a day ahead of a Formula One race that the island kingdom’s opposition hopes will draw attention to its campaign for democracy.

Young men blocked roads, burned tyres and threw rocks at security forces who fired teargas in several villages around the capital Manama on Friday night, human rights activists and witnesses said.

Such skirmishes have occurred almost nightly in Bahrain for the last two years, and the Opposition has called for more protests in the run-up to the Grand Prix, which many in the Shi’ite-majority country accuse the Sunni-led Government of using to disguise political dysfunction and human rights abuses.

Yesterday morning, much of Manama and the surrounding area appeared quiet, with police stationed along major highways.

The Government denies it carries out human rights abuses and says any reports of wrongdoing by its security forces are investigated.

Bahrain’s Information Minister Samira Rajab said the overnight clashes were “the normal sort” and opposition reports about them sought to inflate their significance.

“They are trying to exaggerate for the media before the Formula One race. They are working very hard to show a bad image of Bahrain,” she told Reuters.

Sayed Yousif al-Muhafda from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights said he believed protests and clashes broke out in nearly 20 villages on Friday evening and night.