Bahrain's majority Shiites vowed Friday to defy the government and rebuild mosques which they say were demolished by security forces during pro-democracy protests in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom, dpa reported.
Residents of Nuwaidrat village, south of the Bahraini capital Manama, were already busy removing some of the rubble.
"We are now working on rebuilding seven mosques," one resident, who asked not to be named, told dpa.
"The police had tried to stop the work earlier in the week and the municipal authorities had sent warnings to us," he added.
Some 10 mosques and religious buildings were demolished in April in Nuwaidrat alone, out of more than 50 allegedly removed by the authorities across the small Gulf island during the same month.
Followers claim the demolitions were carried out in reprisal for the Shiite-led protests that broke out in Bahrain on February 14.
Nuwaidrat is the hometown of prominent Shiite opposition leader Abdul-Wahab Hussain, who was sentenced in June by a military court to life in prison on charges of attempting to overthrow the regime.