Saudi policemen form a check point near the site where a demonstration was expected to take place in Riyadh on Friday. Photograph: Hassan Ammar/AP Saudi security forces came out in strength in Riyadh on a "day of rage" organised by pro-democracy campaigners who managed only small demonstrations in the eastern provinces.
Expectations that the unrest sweeping the Arab world in the last few weeks would spread to its most conservative kingdom appeared to have been dashed by pre-emptive security measures and stern official warnings against any protests.
Far larger demonstrations rocked Yemen, where tens of thousands of pro and anti-government protesters took to the streets as President Ali Abdullah Saleh struggled to maintain his grip.
Clashes broke out in the nearby island state of Bahrain, where Shia protesters were confronted by riot police guarding the royal court in Manama. Demonstrations were also held in Kuwait by stateless people demanding their rights.
The calm in the Saudi capital may have been achieved partly by an incident on Thursday in the eastern city of al-Qatif, where police shot and wounded at least two protesters. Unconfirmed reports described trouble there again.
Protesters rallied in Hofuf, close to the eastern Ghawar oil field and major refinery installations. The city has seen scattered protests by Shias who complain of discrimination by the Sunni majority.
Saudi sources also reported marches involving hundreds of people in al-Ahsa and Awwamiya near al-Qatif.
Security in Riyadh was high-profile and intense, with helicopters hovering overhead and police checks on cars and individuals heading for mosques, where protests were expected after prayers.
"Police cruisers were given orders to pull over any car," tweeted Mohammed al-Qahtani, president of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association. "I saw several cars being searched by officers, and they checked IDs."
Disappointed activists counted more policemen and journalists than demonstrators. "Where were all these policemen and helicopters when Jeddah was drowning?" asked one Saudi — a sardonic reference to the floods that devastated the Red Sea coastal city twice in the last two years and fuelled anger and resentment at government incompetence.
Last week Saudi Arabia banned public protests following demonstrations by Shia groups in the eastern areas during which 22 people were arrested and later freed.
Activists had used a Facebook page to call for protests but many reformist Saudis said they did not know who the organisers were and raised concerns of a possible provocation by the secret police in a country where demonstrations are rare.
Characteristically, the government mobilised religious leaders to speak out. "Islam strictly prohibits protests in the kingdom because the ruler here rules by God's will," Sheikh Abdel Aziz Alasheikh told worshippers in Riyadh's central mosque. Leading scholars had earlier issued a fatwa banning protests.
Rumours were rife in Riyadh, with anonymous text messages carrying dire warnings of huge fines, loss of nationality and expulsion from the country. "The messages are not coming from official channels, and are obviously scare tactics employed to discourage large numbers from showing up and adding to the tensions," one resident told the Guardian.
Last month King Abdullah, who is 87, sought to defuse opposition demands for change by unveiling an unprecedented package worth about bn (£23bn) to pay for unemployment benefits, education and housing subsidies the day after he returned from three months of medical treatment in the US and Morocco.
But critics said he was resorting to a familiar tactic of throwing money at a problem and not addressing its root causes — a lack of significant political reform.
Since then the streets of Riyadh have been festooned with flags and large green posters of a smiling King Abdullah welcoming him home.
"If you are well, we are all well," one read. "Welcome king of humanity," said another. Before a soccer match on Thursday, a message was circulated among fans urging them not to wear their team's colours but the green of the Saudi national flag.
For some Middle East analysts the extent of unrest in Saudi Arabia has been seen as a possible indicator of whether the popular unrest across the region will begin to ebb or continue to intensify. But a low turnout in protests may lead the king and his advisers to conclude that internal pressure for reform can be ignored.
A special correspondent in Riyadh contributed to this report
Saudi Arabia: Free Cleric Who Backs Change
Three Petitions for Constitutional Monarchy Attract Almost 2,000 Signatures
February 28, 2011
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The Saudi government should listen to the demands of its citizens, not seek to stifle them. Calling for equal rights for an oppressed religious minority should not be a reason for harassment and arrest.
Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch
(Munich) - Saudi authorities should immediately release a Shia cleric apparently arrested on February 27, 2011, for calling for a constitutional monarchy and equal rights for Shia in his Friday sermon, Human Rights Watch said today.
The domestic intelligence agency, the General Directorate for Investigations, summoned Shaikh Tawfiq al-‘Amir to Hofuf in the al-Ahsa district of the Eastern Province and then arrested him, according to family members. No official reason was given for his arrest.
"The Saudi government should listen to the demands of its citizens, not seek to stifle them," said Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch. "Calling for equal rights for an oppressed religious minority should not be a reason for harassment and arrest."
The arrest comes amid mounting pressure for political reform in Saudi Arabia as pro-democracy demonstrations sweep through the Middle East. A total of close to 2,000 Saudis have put their names to three separate petitions calling for a constitutional monarchy. The government so far has not arrested any of those who signed the petitions, which were made public last week.
However, the authorities have reportedly blocked access within the kingdom to the website http://www.dawlaty.com/ ("My Nation"), where one of the petitions appeared.
On February 16 the authorities arrested a group of people who had announced their intention to found the country’s first political party, the Islamic Nation Party (Hizb al-Umma al-Islami).
One petition, the so-called "youth" petition, signed by more than 40 people and initiated by young journalists, was made public on the day of King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz’s return to Saudi Arabia on February 23, following a three-month absence for medical treatment. The petition called for an elected parliament, a separation of powers, a review of the Basic Law, and a basic administrative law, among other demands.
A second petition, "Toward a State of Rights and Institutions, " calls for an elected parliament with full legislative powers, a separation of the offices of king and prime minister, and the release of political prisoners, among other demands. Over 1,550 people have signed it, including some high-profile Islamist clerics who had vehemently opposed King Abdullah’s promotion of women in the public sphere.
The third and latest petition, released on February 26 under the title, "National Declaration for Reform," was signed by more than 330 people, including leading liberal reformers, and includes the most detailed reform program. It calls for elections to decision-making bodies on the local, provincial, and national levels, as well as a review of the Basic Law to include rights protections, true separation of powers, and the release of political prisoners, among other demands.
Various internet sites have called for a Saudi "Day of Rage" on March 11 and March 20, with nationwide demonstrations. Public protests are banned by the authorities in Saudi Arabia. Publicly identifying with demands for political reform remains risky in Saudi Arabia and can lead to harassment or detention.
On February 25 there were peaceful marches in the Shia towns of Safwa and Qatif in the Eastern Province. Residents of al-‘Awwamiyya, an adjacent small Shia town, held a silent vigil the same day calling for the release of the so-called "Forgotten Prisoners," nine Shia Saudis detained without charge or trial for over 12 years over unproven allegations of their involvement in the 1996 attacks on US military targets in Khobar that killed 19 Americans.
"The Saudi government risks being overtaken by history," Wilcke said. "Throughout the region citizens are demanding their rights. Persisting with outdated authoritarian ways is a recipe for instability."Ver más