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| Arabia |
| Saudi police crack down on illegal rally |
| 2013-03-03 |
| RIYADH — The Saudi police have arrested 176 people, including 15 women, for holding an illegal protest to demand the release of prisoners, the official Saudi Press news Agency (SPA) reported late on Friday. The agency, quoting a police spokesman, said protesters were arrested “after refusing to break up a gathering outside the offices of the investigation bureau and the prosecution in Buraida,” in central Saudi Arabia. The spokesman accused the protesters of acting on behalf of “deviant groups”. Small groups of women have gathered almost daily in Buraida, north of Riyadh, to demand the release of imprisoned relatives, and dozens of protesters held a rare sit-in outside the Buraida prison in September. At the time police dispersed the protesters and authorities later warned they would deal “firmly” with demonstrations, sparking condemnation from Amnesty International which urged Riyadh to withdraw its threat. Amnesty said Friday’s protesters were seeking the release of “more than 50 women and children” detained after a similar demonstration two days earlier. The women and children “were demanding the release of their relatives, incarcerated without charge or trial or beyond the end of their sentences”, said the watchdog. Some of the women also called for the sacking of the interior minister,” it added. A wave of deadly Al Qaeda attacks in the kingdom between 2003 and 2006 prompted a crackdown by the Saudi Arabia authroties that drove out the local branch of the group that was founded by the late Saudi-born Osama bin Laden. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 Wait until they get drones from us. |
| Posted by: Jack is Back! 2013-03-03 16:22 |