Saudi Arabia’s fear of “boogey man” drives regional unrest

Shiite Uprising Widening in Saudi Arabia
Saturday, October 8, 2011 – IMRA

TEHRAN (FNA)- Activists from Saudi Arabia’s heavily Shiite Muslim-populated Eastern province attacked Riyadh’s pledge to crack down with an “iron fist” on further protests in the oil-rich but long-restive region.

Eastern Shiite campaigners also hit back at government claims that an unnamed foreign power was behind protests there this week.

The comments highlight rising tensions between Saudi Arabia’s Sunni rulers and a Shiite minority that accuses the government of discrimination and has been further sensitized by neighboring Bahrain’s clampdown on a Shiite
uprising there.

Tawfiq al-Saif, a Shiite writer and community leader in the Eastern city of Qatif near the centre of the unrests, said, “Saying there was a foreign power behind this is nonsense. There is a tension (here) for a long time. So
to use force will actually add more fuel to the fire.”

Walked Sulais, another Qatif activist, said the government’s allegation that Iran organized the violence was damaging to Sunni-Shia relations.

He wrote on Twitter, “We all denounce violence, but accusing a sect of loyalty to Iran is unacceptable. Coexistence in our country was broken. Years of efforts to spread tolerance were destroyed by this statement.”

Witnesses said trouble flared this week in the village of al-Awwamiya after group of young men went to a police station because officers had detained the father of a campaigner, in an effort to force him to give himself up.

The Saudi police beat them and then violence started, during which the Saudi police killed and injured several people, eye-witnesses added.

The Saudi interior ministry promised to “ruthlessly deal with the misguided and agents” and to “use the iron fist with whoever dares resorting to such ways”.

While Saudi Arabia has largely escaped the public protests seen in many Middle East countries during this year’s Arab awakening, demonstrators from the Shiite community have staged several rallies in the Qatif area this
year.

The majority of Shiite, who account for about a 10th of Saudi Arabia’s population, live in the oil-rich East of the country, where they are nonetheless a minority. They have called for the release of Shiite prisoners
and the withdrawal of Saudi forces sent to Bahrain to help quell protests by members of the Shiite majority against the minority Sunni royal family.

Qatif and the wider Eastern region are strategically important because of their role in the Saudi oil industry, the world’s largest in terms of output. An oil processing centre near Qatif handles about 70 per cent of the
country’s daily crude production.