Saudi protesters have taken to the streets in the eastern city of Qatif to express solidarity with the victims of Riyadh crackdown on dissent.
The protest rally comes two days after Saudi security forces killed two people, including a 16-year-old boy, in Qatif after they raided a house to arrest an opposition activist wanted by the regime.
The rally was organized by the Coalition of Freedom and Justice in which demonstrators expressed solidarity with political prisoners.
Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry has confirmed that security forces shot dead two men after they raided a house in Qatif on Wednesday. The wanted activist, Khaled al-Labbad, was also killed in the attack.
Labbad, who was on a list of 23 people wanted by the Saudi regime, was accused of organizing anti-regime protests in the kingdom’s oil-rich eastern region.
Since February 2011, protesters have held demonstrations on an almost regular basis in the Kingdom’s east, mainly in Qatif and Awamiyah, calling for the release of all political prisoners, freedom of expression and assembly, and an end to widespread discrimination.
However, the demonstrations have turned into protests against the repressive Al Saud regime, especially since November 2011, when Saudi security forces killed five protesters and injured many others in the oil-rich region.
According to Human Rights Watch, the Saudi regime “routinely represses expression critical of the government.”
