DUBAI: Dozens of people staged a peaceful march this week in the oil-producing region of eastern Saudi Arabia, apparently in solidarity with Bahraini Shiite prisoners and demanding basic rights, according to a video posted on YouTube.

The video recording, dated June 24, showed some 30 men, many in Western clothes, marching with white shrouds that symbolize willingness to die as martyrs, in the mainly Shiite city of Qatif.

It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the recording, but Shiites have often held small protests in the area.

A Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman said he was not aware of the report but would check with local police.

A local rights activist said the protest, inspired by a government crackdown on fellow Shiites in neighboring Bahrain, was the first one of its kind in the area in two months.

“The demonstrators were not calling for bringing down the regime. They were simply demanding basic rights and an end to sectarian discrimination,” Mohammad al-Said said in a telephone conversation.

He said activists from the Shiite minority in the area had suspended protests in April following government promises to start a dialogue with them and free detainees.

Sunni-Muslim-ruled Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter and a major U.S. ally, does not tolerate any form of public dissent.

Some of the demonstrators had inscribed the text of Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on their backs. “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile,” read the red text, written in bold Arabic letters.

The demonstrators also voiced solidarity with activists in Bahrain, facing a continuing crackdown from the government after protests were crushed in March.

Saudi Arabia, unnerved by Bahrain’s uprising, had sent in troops after the small kingdom asked Gulf neighbors to support its crackdown.

“Saudi army out, Bahrain is free,” the protesters in Qatif chanted.

Activists also released still pictures of a separate protest by veiled women in full black garb who also donned white shrouds on their backs to symbolize martyrdom marching in eastern Saudi Arabia.

“We demand the release of prisoners forgotten [for] 16 years,” read one red and blue placard carried by a protester.