Uprising in Saudi Arabia rocks the Kingdom

After a brief lull, the protesters have again took to the streets in Saudi Arabia, where the kingdom is trying its best to quell the demonstrations by force. Security agencies of the country have been directed to deal with the protesters with iron hand for disrupting established rules and regulations of the kingdom. After the uprising started in Saudi Arabia, on March 5, 2011, the Saudi Interior Ministry issued a statement banning all forms of protests and demonstrations. The ministry feared big demonstrations against Al-Saud family as people appeared fed up with the tyranny.

On Saturday, hundreds of protesters staged a demonstration against the "repressive regime of Al-Saud" and demanded the release of political prisoners. The protesters largely gathered in Buraydah, around 380 kilometers northwest of Riyadh. The latest protests sparked after Saudi security forces killed an 18-year-old protester on July 13. The protest against the regime was held in Awamiyah near a police station. The charged protesters, who were also carrying placards against the regime, demanded the release of a prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nemr al-Nemr.

It is to be noted that the security forces arrested Nemr on July 8 for allegedly inciting people against the regime. Also on July 8, the Saudi police killed three protesters in Qatif. The city has Shiite Muslims in majority (only less than three percent of the population is Sunni Muslim). Saudi authorities believe that Iran is behind the demonstrations, as all the protests are started by Shiite Muslims in KSA. The Shia community of Saudi Arabia alleges the regime of discrimination and prejudice and so they say they are left with no other option but to stage demonstrations against the regime.

The uprising that started in February last year from Tunisia has largely spared Saudi Arabia for a number of reasons, while al-Qaeda and Iran have been trying their best to create anarchy in the country for their vested interests. However, appeals of al-Qaeda chief and conspiracies of Iran have failed so far in creating any major chaos in Saudi Arabia against the monarch. The security forces have been successful in handling sporadic demonstrations, as the regime pumped billions of dollars for raising the life standard of people and to keep them silent.

In the third week of May this year, terror kingpin and al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri urged Saudis in a video message to rise up against the ruling family for plundering resources of the country. In his message, he said that the people of Saudi Arabia should start a sincere struggle against the royal al-Saud family like the people of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen had done against their respective monarchs.