REUTERS CANADA: RIYADH - Hundreds of Saudi Shi'ites staged a protest in the kingdom's oil-producing Eastern Province Friday calling for prisoner releases and a withdrawal of Saudi forces from Bahrain, activists said.
The world's No. 1 oil producer and a U.S. ally, Saudi Arabia has not seen the kind of mass uprisings that have rocked the Arab world this year. But dissent is simmering in the kingdom as unrest takes root in neighboring Yemen, Bahrain and Oman.
There were rallies in two villages close to the main Shi'ite center of Qatif shortly after midday and afternoon prayers.
"There are around 400 protesters here at the moment and some are waving Bahraini flags," said one protester who declined to be named. "The protests are peaceful and the riot police are well away from the demonstrators."
Demonstrators called for political freedoms and an end to what they call sectarian discrimination against Saudi Arabia's Shi'ite Muslim majority by the absolute Sunni monarchy.
Saudi Shi'ites have held a number of protests in Eastern Province, where most of the country's oil fields are. » | Jason Benham | Friday, March 25, 2011
