'KSA, epitome of tyranny, dictatorship'

Islam Times: “Of course, what Riyadh is doing is typical of dictatorship and tyranny because they are using the iron fist [with] which they have been ruling the Arab Peninsula for decades,” said Aly el-Kabbany, a London-based journalist and political commentator.

On Tuesday, anti-regime demonstrations in Qatif and Awamiyah in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia turned violent after the US-backed kingdom's security forces unleashed a bestial clampdown on peaceful protesters.

Violence erupted after hundreds of Saudis took to the streets in Qatif to protest against the detention of two senior citizens. Saudi security forces had taken the two men hostage in a bid to force their sons, who are wanted by Saudi authorities for participating in anti-government protests, to surrender themselves.

Saudi official sources claim that 14 people were injured in the clashes, while activists put the number of those wounded at about 24.

Pointing to the Saudi regime's “hypocrisy” in dealing with uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa, el-Kabbany added, “They are supporting some other sheikhdoms of the [Persian] Gulf, the uprising in Libya and they are using their propaganda machine to attack the regime in Syria. But when it came to Bahrain, their front door, or in Yemen, their backyard, they are sending troops to fight the people of these two countries.”

Riyadh deployed more than 1,000 troops in the tiny Persian Gulf state of Bahrain in mid-March to help security forces of the Al Khalifa regime to intensify their crackdown on anti-government demonstrators.

Bahrainis have been holding anti-government rallies since mid-February, demanding an end to the Al Khalifa dynasty, which has ruled the country for over 40 years.

Saudi Arabia has also reportedly dispatched convoys of armored vehicles and military assistance to Yemen to help the embattled Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime to suppress the Yemeni popular revolution, which began in late January.