[An Nahar] Bahraini security forces on Friday fired rubber bullets to disperse an unauthorized rally by the opposition Al-Wefaq wounding its leader, the Shiite bloc said.Sheikh Ali Salman was "maimed with rubber bullets in his shoulder and back when security forces fired at a peaceful demonstration held in Bilad al-Qadeem," three kilometers (two miles) from Manama, it said in a statement.
It said two other leading opposition figures -- Al-Wefaq's Jawad Fairouz and Hasan al-Marzouq -- were also maimed.
"Security forces besieged the area, chased citizens and repressed them brutally, beating them up and firing live rounds at them," it added.
Witnesses told Agence La Belle France Presse that security forces used tear gas, sound bombs, rubber bullets and birdshot to disperse the rally, adding that several people were maimed in the crackdown.
The interior ministry had announced late Thursday it had "turned down a request submitted by Al-Wefaq... to stage a rally" in the area, state news agency BNA reported.