Human Rights Watch accused Saudi Arabia of arbitrarily arresting peaceful activists in its Eastern Province and of sparking recent clashes there with the detention of two elderly men.

Hundreds of oppositions in Saudi Arabia protested in February to demand the release of activists, Reuters reported. 

The Saudi kingdom officials said 14 people had been injured during the clashes in Awamiya, an Eastern Province village last week.

HRW said last week's demonstrations began after security forces arrested two elderly men to force their sons to surrender to police.

“Saudi authorities should immediately stop arbitrary arrests of relatives, rights activists, and peaceful protesters,” said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at HRW in a statement posted on the rights group's website.

Hundreds of Saudis have been gathering outside the police headquarters in Qatif, demanding the immediate release of detainees. Security forces disperse such crowd using force. 

Saudi activists say there are more than 30,000 political prisoners, mostly prisoners of conscious, in jails across the Arab kingdom. 

According to activists, most of the detained political thinkers are being held by the government without trial or legitimate charges and that they were arrested for merely being suspicious. 

Some of the detainees are reported to be held without trial for more than 16 years. 

The Saudi government has been frequently criticized by human rights groups. Western governments, however, have remained silent on the human rights violations of the kingdom. 

Protests and public gatherings of any kind are prohibited in the kingdom and the Saudi Interior Ministry has threatened confront protests with “an iron fist.”