Saudi Arabia Security Police Break Up Protest in Eastern City of Al-Qatif
Saudi Arabia said its security forces broke up a protest in the eastern city of al-Qatif, a day before what anti-government demonstrators have called a “Day of Rage.”
Police fired above the crowd of 120-150 people to break up the gathering after a policeman taking video to document the event was attacked, Major General Mansour al-Turki, an Interior Ministry spokesman, said in an interview. Three people were injured, two protesters and one policeman, he said.
Some people are trying to “instigate chaos,” he said in a telephone interview.
Regional unrest, which has so far toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt, has reached Saudi Arabia’s neighbors Yemen, Oman and Bahrain, the island-kingdom where a Sunni family rules the majority Shiite population. In Libya, Muammar Qaddafi is fighting rebels who seek to end his four-decade rule.
Crude oil for April delivery declined $1.45, or 1.4 percent, to $102.93 a barrel at 2:21 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices are up 25 percent from a year ago. Oil traded at about $101.50 before reports of the gunfire.
U.S. officials said Saudi authorities used “less-than- lethal” means on protesters, CNBC said, without naming the officials. The security forces fired rubber bullets, CNBC reported.
Protests are outlawed in the kingdom, whose ruling family applies a strict version of Sunni Islam. Shiites are a minority in the country.
Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said yesterday his government believes dialogue is the best way to solve problems in the kingdom.
To contact the reporter on this story: Glen Carey in Riyadh at gcarey8@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net.
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