Bahrain’s opposition chief Sheikh Ali Salman has been remanded in custody for one week pending an investigation into charges including promoting regime change through violence, prosecutors said.

Salman, head of the Shiite group Al-Wefaq, was charged  by authorities in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom, where the opposition boycotted a November parliamentary election that it dismissed as a farce. Al-Wefaq swiftly denounced his detention, saying it “entrenches the tyrannical rule in Bahrain and closes all doors for a political solution.”Salman’s arrest on  triggered clashes between police and protesters in Shiite villages outside the capital Manama, during which security forces fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators. The prosecution said  that Salman had been charged with “promoting regime change by force, threats and illegal means and of insulting the interior ministry publicly.”