Protests spread in eastern Saudi Arabia

Slogans against the royal family have been daubed on walls in the Shiite heartland of eastern Saudi Arabia, the scene of deadly clashes with security forces, reports said.The Al-Saud ruling family must be "held responsible for the blood of the martyrs", "Down with Mohammed bin Fahd" bin Abdul Aziz, the governor of the kingdom's Eastern Province, were painted in the streets of the city of Qatib. Security forces were posted at entrances to Qatib and conducting patrols, although no incidents were reported during a visit organized by Saudi authorities for journalists based in Riyadh, an AFP report said. According to the authorities and medical sources, four people were shot dead in unrest since Sunday in the mainly Shiite eastern region of the predominantly Sunni Muslim kingdom. The Saudi regime has used tanks and snipers to kill protesters. Amateur videos and photographs showed that a tank has run over protesters while snipers targeted unarmed people. On Friday, Shiite clerics called at weekly prayers for the authorities to come forward with conciliatory gestures towards their community, who are always marginalized in the oil-rich Persian Gulf state. "The government is called upon to make a gesture of appeasement to ending discrimination so as to heal the wounds," said Sheikh Hassan Saar.