Saudi Cops Open Fire on Protestors
Update: Rubber Bullets

In the east of the country.

Update: Just Sam says this was rubber bullets.

Saudi police fired rubber bullets to disperse protests in the eastern province - CNBC citing WSJ

Well, that's important data. Not exactly civil, but no martyrs, either.

...

Drew notes that this wasn't even the main protest that's being organized. The House of Saud isn't playing games.

Obviously, if the state fell, it would be very bad short term, and probably long term, because terrorism, Wahabism, etc., are pretty popular over there.

Interesting: What's in the east?

Two things: Shiites, and oil.

rotests so far in Saudi Arabia have been limited to the Eastern province of the country, where the minority Shia population resides. But that’s also where the oil fields lie.

“And that’s what I worry about,” Ryan Crocker, a former U.S. ambassador to Iraq and other Middle Eastern nations told POLITICO...

There are major protests planned for tomorrow.

Some Views: This guy calls for the US to ask the House of Saud for reforms and steps towards democracy.

I think that's inadvisable myself.

Why March 11th? Oh, my. Remember this?

March 11 is a powerful date in Saudi Arabia and the day of protests was undoubtedly chosen for its resonance and symbolism. On the same day in 2002, fifteen young girls burned to death in a fire at a girls’ school in Mecca. Overzealous members of the mutawwa, the religious police, beat back the school girls attempting to escape the fire, refusing to let them out because they were uncovered. This horrific tragedy drew worldwide condemnation and led to serious introspection inside the kingdom that continues to this day.

That guy doesn't anticipate a revolution. He says that while there is agitation against all that makes backward Muslim society backwardly Muslim -- corruption and so forth -- no one is calling for the overthrow of the royal family.

posted by Ace at 03:55 PM

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