AL-AWAMIYAH, Saudi Arabia: In the Saudi oil -rich Shiite-dominated eastern region’s village where police clashed with peaceful protesters was calm on Wednesday as a prominent cleric urged his followers to avoid the use of weapons.

"The situation is calm now in the village" of Al-Awamiya in eastern Saudi Arabia, said Human Rights First Society head Ibrahim al-Mughaiteeb.

At a mosque in the village late on Tuesday, Sheikh Nimr Nimr, appealed on fellow Shiites "not to respond to bullets with bullets," according to the text of his sermon published online.

Saudi "authorities depend on bullets ... and killing and imprisonment. We must depend on the roar of the word, on the words of justice," Nimr said following two days of clashes between Shiite protesters and security forces.

But Mughaiteeb said "this is the first time" that protesters had used firearms rather than stones and Molotov cocktails.

The interior ministry of the kingdom blamed the unrest on a "foreign country", in apparent reference to Iran across the Gulf.

Abdulaziz Sager, chairman of the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, referred to "concrete evidence of Iran's involvement" in this week's unrest, including "telephone calls from Tehran that were intercepted" by Saudi Arabia.

Sheikh Nimr accused Saudi authorities of "provoking" the protesters by firing on them with live bullets.

A Shiite Saudi activist contacted by AFP said that tension grew in the village on Monday after police arrested two men, both in their 70s, in a bid to force their wanted sons, accused of taking part in Shiite-led protests, to surrender.

The health of one of the two men, Hassan al-Zayed, deteriorated in detention and they were later freed, said the activist, who requested anonymity.

A rights activist and writer, Hassan al-Manasef, who went to the police station to inquire about the two men was himself arrested, he added.

A fourth man, Hussein Hathiya, was also arrested when he came to inquire about Manasef, said the same activist.