Police in Bahrain beat and arrested demonstrators protesting for jobs in the capital Manama yesterday, rights activists and witnesses said, but the Interior Ministry said police had been attacked first. "A group of about 50 unemployed and other sympathizers were demonstrating peacefully near the royal court when police harshly attacked them, beat them and arrested more than 30 of them," human rights activist Nabeel Rajab said. Among those beaten and arrested was Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, head of the banned Bahrain Center for Human Rights, Rajab said. Other witnesses said police hit demonstrators with batons.