A Bahraini man gestures from behind a car in Barbar, Bahrain, on Friday, Nov. 9, 2012, that residents said was damaged when it was hit by tear gas canisters fired by riot police. Police used tear gas in several villages to prevent residents from leaving to participate in midday prayers in the northern village of Diraz. Shiite clerics nationwide had called for worshipers to pray in Diraz on Friday where top Shiite cleric Sheik Issa Qassim preaches in a show of support for him at a time of concern among Shiites that he may be arrested as part of a government crackdown on the opposition. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)
A Bahraini man gestures from behind a car in Barbar, Bahrain, on Friday, Nov. 9, 2012, that residents said was damaged when it was hit by tear gas canisters fired by riot police. Police used tear gas in several villages to prevent residents from leaving to participate in midday prayers in the northern village of Diraz. Shiite clerics nationwide had called for worshipers to pray in Diraz on Friday where top Shiite cleric Sheik Issa Qassim preaches in a show of support for him at a time of concern among Shiites that he may be arrested as part of a government crackdown on the opposition. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)
Lawyer Taimoor Karimi is seen outside his home in Muharraq, Bahrain, on Friday, Nov. 9, 2012. Karimi is one of 31 people to have his Bahraini citizenship revoked by the government as part of its crackdown on the opposition. A religious banner behind him praises Islam's founding Prophet Mohamed. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)
A Bahraini youth who nurses said was hit in the head with a tear gas canister fired by riot police is treated in a home in Barbar, Bahrain, on Friday, Nov. 9, 2012. Police used tear gas in several villages to prevent residents from leaving to participate in midday prayers in the northern village of Diraz, where top Shiite cleric Sheik Issa Qassim preaches in a show of support for him at a time of concern among Shiites that he may be arrested as part of a government crackdown on the opposition. Protesters often are treated in homes, fearing arrest if they are taken to hospitals. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)
Bahrain's top Shiite cleric Sheik Issa Qassim speaks during midday prayers in Diraz, Bahrain, on Friday, Nov. 9, 2012. Shiite clerics nationwide had called for worshipers to pray at the Diraz mosque where Qassim preaches in a show of support for the cleric at a time of concern among Shiites that he may be targeted for arrest as part of a government crackdown on the opposition. Police blocked all roads to the area and used tear gas to keep back worshipers who abandoned their cars to try to walk to the village. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)
MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) ? Bahraini security forces set up checkpoints and fired tear gas Friday in apparent efforts to block worshippers from reaching weekly prayers led by a cleric fiercely opposing rulers in the embattled Gulf nation.
The clampdown comes after authorities blamed Shiite religious figures for helping fuel tensions in strategic Bahrain, home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
The island kingdom has faced nearly nonstop unrest for 21 months between the Sunni-led government and protesters from the Shiite majority seeking a greater political voice. On Monday, a series of bomb blasts killed two South Asian workers in a sign that some factions are escalating the levels of violence with homemade explosives and firebombs.
More than 55 people have died and hundreds have been arrested in Bahrain's unrest since February 2011.
The security measures kept many people from attending the Friday prayers of Sheik Isa Qassim, who denounced Bahrain's move earlier this week to revoke the citizenship of 31 Shiite activists and lawyers.
"The revoking of citizenship from honorable people is aimed at punishing those who have opposition views," he told worshippers who managed to reach his mosque in a Shiite district outside the capital, Manama.
On Wednesday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Washington was "greatly concerned" by the move.
"We have continually called on the government of Bahrain to create a climate that is conducive to reconciliation, to meaningful dialogue, to reform, to bring peaceful change," she said.
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