MANAMA, 3 December 2005 — Rioters burned cars and set off explosions with gas cylinders Thursday in a third night of unrest in Bahrain. Police said 15 people were arrested.

Among those arrested were children aged between 13 and 15, caught after police used tear gas to break up a protest where rioters stole a car and set it ablaze, an Interior Ministry official said.

The unrest flared since a committee for Bahrain’s unemployed organized protests against joblessness and to demand an investigation into a claim of assault by unidentified men, believed to be armed security officials, on committee member Moussa Abdaali.

Committee member Abbas Al-Omran denied responsibility for the violence, vowing to continue their efforts to seek justice for their fellow member and until an acceptable solution for the problem of unemployment is reached.

The public prosecutor has said that a medical examination carried out on Abdaali revealed no signs of assault and only showed minor injuries to the leg.

The committee said it had called off Thursday’s protest a few hours before it began, but protesters claiming to be representatives of villages gathered and organized the rally.

About 80 people had marched through the highway causing traffic chaos, the official said. Two gas cylinders exploded after rioters set them on fire and placed them inside burning garbage dumps that were used to block traffic.

“When police approached them, they hurled stones and Molotov cocktails at the units, before taking refuge in a nearby village from which they continued their attacks,” the official said.

A night earlier, rioters set two police cars ablaze and damaged at least three other private cars.

An official has accused the organizers of attempting to mimic the riots against poverty, crime and unemployment that shook France’s suburbs and cities in late October and November.

The head of the capital security directorate, Col. Isa Al-Musalam, has called the protests a campaign to incite unrest with the aim of terrorizing the public.

A 31-year-old protester was treated for minor injury after clashes with police.

Two police cars were set ablaze and at least three civilian cars were damaged in Wednesday’s clashes between police and the protesters.

On Tuesday night, a group of about 150 youths clashed with police after a daylong standoff. While no injuries were reported, Tuesday’s clashes left a number of cars damaged and brought the city to a halt as traffic backed up on the capital’s main roads.

The three nights of clashes has reflected negatively on government policies to address the concerns of the unemployed.

Al-Omran said police had provoked the violence by blocking the protests and using “undue force”.

The Bahrain Human Rights Society and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights have condemned the use of force by police to break up the protests and expressed concern over allegations made by Abdaali.

Bahrain’s Arabic daily Al-Wasat reported Thursday that the interior minister has ordered an internal review of employment policies, which will likely affect pending employment requests by committee members.

The ministry has employed a number of job protesters in recent months and was in the process of employing others.