Saudi Arabia: Shiites Protest Killing of Protester by Security Forces

NEW YORK TIMES

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in a tense eastern region on Friday after the killing of a Shiite youth in clashes with security forces. Videos posted on Facebook by activists showed hundreds of young men, their faces covered with scarves and T-shirts, chanting, “We will not forget you, O martyrs.” Shiites, a minority in Saudi Arabia but the majority in the oil-rich Qatif region, had been protesting what they said was discrimination by the country’s Sunni rulers. The Saudi Shiite news Web site Rasid said that Issam Muhammad, 22, was shot and killed Thursday after a security vehicle was pelted with rocks in al-Awamiya. An Interior Ministry spokesman confirmed the death, but said the security forces were fired on first.