Last Update on Saudi Arabia

Many events are happening in the Arab world, and in those countries, some are calling for reform of the government and others have already rebelled/revoked. These events of revoke are causing other countries in the Arab world to want reform, to want better rights as well. In Saudi Arabia, the freedom of speech was again restricted and many people over the spring have been arrested, all to help keep order. However, despite the arrests and attempts to stop protests by the government, many groups of Saudi Arabians have written petitions to the King calling for reform. Many protests are still happening all over the country and many people are being arrested in hopes to scare the people in stopping but the opposite affect might happen. Amnesty International 2011 annual report gives information about protests that were planned to call for reform of the government. A rally was held on March 4 and there it was planned to have a “Day of Rage” the following Friday. When the government heard of this, they took action and the reports states: ” Amid reports that further protests were planned, the Ministry of Interior issued a statement on 5 March reiterating the ban on demonstrations and stating that security forces would take “all necessary measures” against those who attempted to “disrupt order”. The country’s religious leaders, the Shura Council and religious police instructed people not to join the “Day of Rage”, and some media reports suggested that some 10,000 soldiers were to be deployed to stop the protests”. This stop that protest and maybe prevented a few more from happening. Also many arrests have and still will happen over the next few month or longer. All this events may lead to something in the future but for now the government is trying to control the events and the people. However, if people really push for better human rights then the government will not be able to stop them.