In Bahrain, the Gulf Kingdom's leading Shia cleric has said the country's Sunni rulers are practicing "fake democracy".

Opposition groups in Bahrain are calling for a boycott of parliamentary elections to be held on Saturday.

A freelance journalist, who Al Jazeera is not naming for his own safety, reports from a village near the capital Manama.

He says hundreds of people are trying to march from the village of Sanabis which is 5km from Manama.

They are trying to reach the former Pearl roundabout but security forces are blocking them.