Riyadh - Saudi police used force to disperse a demonstration by minority Shi'as on Thursday, injuring up to four people on the eve of a day of protests called for on social media, witnesses and activists said.
Shots were heard near a protest by around 200 Shi'as in the town of Qatif in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, home to some of the world's largest oil fields and a large Shi'a minority.
The clampdown was a sign that the Saudi government was serious about enforcing a ban on protests called for Friday by Internet activists emboldened by protests that toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia before spreading to the Gulf.
“There was firing, it was sporadic,” one witness said, adding that the sound of gunfire was interspersed with the noise from stun grenades.
Witnesses gave conflicting accounts on whether police in the Sunni-dominated kingdom, an absolute monarchy where protests are forbidden as being against Islam, used rubber or live bullets.
“They were not targeting the people directly. It was indirect firing,” said one Shi'a activist who asked to be identified by only his first name, Hussein.
“It seems they don't mean to kill. We think this is a message not for Qatif but for all Saudis about tomorrow,” he added.
Shi'a protesters have been demonstrating in small numbers for around three weeks in Qatif and other eastern towns, and in some cases were tolerated even as other demonstrations were broken up, activists said. - Reuters