According to reports, Saudi security forces have opened fire on Shia protesters in the Qatif district of Eastern Province on July 27, 2012, injuring several of them as hundreds demonstrated to demand the release of some detainees. The Saudi interior Ministry said security forces dealt with ‘rioters who burned tyres’ in parts of Qatif, and has arrested several people. The demonstrators carried posters of Shia detainees, including prominent cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who was arrested earlier this month. The family of Nimr said that he had been transferred from the military hospital in Dhahran, where he was receiving treatment for a bullet wound, to another in Riyadh. 1

• 1. “Saudi forces 'open fire' on protesters” Al Jazeera, July 28, 2012, at http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/07/201272713452985699.html