Anti-government protests demanding release of prisoners held without charge or trial continued in April and May 2011 in Qatif, al-Awamiyah and Hofuf in the Eastern Province,[1][28][29][50][51][52][53] and extended to calls for the Peninsula Shield Force to be withdrawn from Bahrain[11][54][55] and for the Eastern Province to have a constitution and a legislature.[14] Four protesters were shot dead by Saudi authorities in late November in Qatif region protests and funerals,[56] two on 12/13[57][58] and 26 January 2012,[59] and two on 9 and 10 February 2012.[60][61][62][63] In the early 2012 demonstrations, protesters chanted slogans against the House of Saud and Minister of Interior, Nayef,[64][65] calling Nayef a "terrorist", "criminal" and "butcher"[66] and throwing an effigy of Nayef at tanks.[66] Police described two of the fatal shootings as responses to unidentified gunmen who had shot first.[62][67] Eastern Province protests intensified after Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was wounded in the leg and arrested by police on 8 July.[68] Four men were killed in a protest immediately following the arrest,[69][70][71] and on 13 July,[72] with several funerals and protests following,[73][74][75] including calls for the downfall of the House of Saud.[76][77] While detained, al-Nimr was tortured and started a hunger strike, he was later executed in the 2016 mass execution.[78][79] Protest organisers insisted on the use of nonviolent resistance[80] and called for all Shia and Sunni detainees to be freed.[81] A protester and a soldier were fatally shot in Qatif during a 3–4 August protest,[82] leading to more protests.[83][84][85]