Saudi Arabia has made clear it will not tolerate unrest in its eastern province, where 14 people, 11 of them policemen, were injured in protests this week. Any further trouble would be crushed with "an iron fist," the government warned, anxious to avoid any perception that the first green shoots of the Arab spring have started to emerge in the Gulf's conservative heartland.
It is no surprise that the regime's instinct has been to play down the dimensions and significance of the trouble – an "isolated incident" is the official line in Riyadh. Initial evidence of an over-reaction by security forces gave way to a pullout from the flashpoint, Awamiyah, near the regional capital Qatif, where the Saudi interior ministry accused protesters of carrying arms and throwing petrol bombs. YouTube pictures showed some of that — along with the sound of gunfire and cries of "Allahu Akbar."
It also alleged that the trouble was directed by an unnamed "foreign country" – no prizes for guessing that meant Iran. Unofficial Saudi experts were far less coy, comparing what happened in Awamiyah to the tactics used by Shia protesters in nearby Bahrain during the Pearl Revolution earlier this year, which was also widely, and misleadingly, blamed on meddling by the Islamic republic. Reinforcing Saudi suspicions, Iranian media have hailed the trouble as a "popular uprising" against the monarchy. » | Ian Black | Thursday, October 06, 2011
