SAUDI SHIA CLASH WITH POLICE IN MEDINA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RIYADH 000346

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO NEA/ARP WROEBUCK AND NEA/ARP
JHARRIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2019
TAGS: KIRF KISL PGOV PHUM SA
SUBJECT: SAUDI SHIA CLASH WITH POLICE IN MEDINA

REF: A. A) RIYADH 270 B) RIYADH 42

B. C) 08 JEDDAH 00415

RIYADH 00000346 001.3 OF 002


Classified By: Political Counselor Lisa M. Carle
reasons 1.4 (b),(d)


1. KEY POINTS

-- (U) Saudi security forces clashed February 20 with between
500 and 2000 Saudi Shi'a pilgrims in Medina after Saudi
police denied the pilgrims access to Baqi'a cemetery opposite
the Prophet's Mosque.

-- (U) Shi'a unhappiness escalated into a confrontation
resulting in several arrests and the use of water cannon by
security forces to disperse the crowd.

-- (C) Saudi authorities apparently tried to prevent Saudi
media from reporting on the incident, or from identifying the
protesters as Shi'a, and have acted to defuse a larger
reaction among the Shi'a community in the country's eastern
province.

-- (C) Shi'a community leaders in the Eastern Province told
post that the SAG approached the influential Qatifi Sheikh,
Hassan al-Saffar, to request his assistance in preventing a
public protest in Qatif. No protests have so far taken place
in Qatif in response to the Medina incident.



2. (C) COMMENT: The Shi'a community's long-simmering anger
over historical grievances (see below) occasionally boils
over in such demonstrations (reftels). Trusted members of
the small Shi'a minority in Jeddah recently reported to post
that resentment and discrimination against their community is
on the up-tick, indicating that the Shi'a are vulnerable even
in the usually more tolerant Hijaz (ref C). However, the
anger is unlikely to result in protests that the Saudi
security forces cannot contain. Efforts by Saudi authorities
to play down the incident in the press and head off
demonstrations in Shi'a communities appear to have calmed the
situation for now. Nevertheless, respected Shi'a community
leaders have publicly and privately conveyed their growing
impatience with perceived religious persecution by the SAG in
the aftermath of the Baqi'a incident.


3. (C) BACKGROUND: The ancient Baqi'a cemetery, located next
to the Prophet's Mosque in Medina, is the final resting place
of many important figures from the early days of Islam,
including relatives and Companions of the Prophet Muhammad,
his daughter Fatima, the 3rd Caliph Uthman, and Hasan bin Ali
and several other early Shi'a Imams. The Shi'a venerate
these graves, and hold a historical grudge against the Al
Saud for the destruction of the tombs that occured when King
Abdalaziz conquered Medina in 1925. The King and his zealous
followers, the Ikhwan, considered grave markings idolatrous
and destroyed many such tombs throughout the country. Shi'a
throughout the world still mourn this destruction and refer
it as a "Day of Sorrow." The cemetery is still used for
burials.


4. (U) WHAT HAPPENED (REPORTED VERSION): A Medina police
spokesman gave the following description of events to the
Arabic daily Al-Watan: "At Friday evening, and after the end
of Baqi'a graveyard visiting hours, a group of visitors
gathered in front of the graveyard asking for permission to
go inside. The security guards told them that the graveyard
is closed. That led to a huge mess in the place including
the raising of voices and shouting." Al-Watan added that the
Shi'a blocked the entrance to the Prophet's Mosque,
inhibiting evening prayers, and that five "visitors" were
arrested, which allowed others to enter the mosque for
prayers. Other newspapers reported "emergency security
forces" formed a "human shield" to stop the protesters from
clashing with the religious police, but that after protesters
began throwing shoes and cans at them, the security forces
moved to disperse the crowd. Four children were reported
trapped in the incident and hospitalized for minor injuries.


5. (C) WHAT HAPPENED (SHI'A VERSION): An Eastern Province
contact told Dhahran PolOff the confrontation began at 5:00
PM and lasted three hours. Following closure of the
graveyard, the Shi'a, many of whom were women, stood outside
considering the refusal to let them enter as an insult.
Saudi security officers then elbowed their way through the
women, which resulted in a scuffle and caused some of the
women to "lose some of their coverings." At this time, a
security official climbed a wall to videotape the women, at
which point the women began throwing shoes at the officer.
Then, security forces began "waving their batons at the
protesters, thereby prompting the women to stand up and
confront them using their fists and by shouting denunciations
and calls for divine interventions." After an hour and a
half of shouting, the security forces used water cannon (and
according to one source tear gas) to disperse the women, and
then arrested two women and one man, all Shi'a from Qatif in
the Eastern Province.


6. (U) A video of the incident available February 23 on the
website www.Shi'atube.net showed a man, who from his
appearance could have been an agent of the religious police,
standing above the cemetery gate dodging shoes and filming
the restive crowd below.


7. (U) NOTHING TO REPORT HERE, FOLKS: On February 21, the
private Saudi organization "Human Rights Watch in Saudi
Arabia" circulated a message via Facebook alleging that
Interior Minister Prince Nayif sent a "note" February 20 to
the editors of Saudi newspapers and internet sites forbidding
them to write about the incident. The Arabic language press
reported the story February 21 and 22, but without
identifying the protesters as Shi'a. Newspapers on February
23 carried no mention of the Baqi'a events. Saudi Arabia's
English daily newspapers, which are targeted at the business
and diplomatic communities, have not carried any coverage of
this story. The head of the religious police in Medina has
publicly denied his organization was involved.


8. (C) STAMPING OUT THE SPARKS: The blog Moltaqaa reported
on February 21 that Shi'a leaders in Qatif were planning a
"peaceful demonstration" to protest the Baqi'a incident, but
subsequent reports indicate this demonstration did not take
place, and that the Qatif police called community leaders and
the Governor of Qatif to help stop the demonstration. The
blog Al-Weam.com claimed on February 22 that Shi'a leaders
were planning protests in both Qatif and Safwa, and that the
Interior Ministry had allowed them to take place, but post
has no reports that any demonstrations actually occurred.
XXXXXXXXXXXX (strictly protect),a highly respected
Shi'a community leader in the Eastern Province, told Dhahran
PolOff there would be protests in response to the Medina
incident on February 22 at 3:00 PM. He said authorities had
approached the influential Shi'a Sheikh Hassan Al-Saffar to
try to prevent any protests. However, XXXXXXXXXXXX said the
Shi'a in Qatif, and elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, remain very
upset about the incident in Medina.


9. (U) SAUDI BLOGS TAKE UP THE ARGUMENT: Blogs are debating
the cause of the altercation. Conservative Sunni sites
al-Saha.com, al-Weam.com, and Sabq.org supported the security
forces' actions against the Shi'a as "just" because of the
Shi'a's "religious and legal violations." The Shi'a website
Rasid.com called the incident another example of "Saudi
government persecution against the Shi'a." Rasid claimed
that the government has always opposed Shi'a rituals at sites
such as Baqi'a, which the Salafi Sunni establishment
considers to be blasphemous idolatry. But intolerance runs
both ways - Rasid also recalled an episode in Baqi'a cemetery
three years ago involving a Shi'a man who apparently relieved
himself on the grave of Uthman, the third Islamic Caliph (AD
644-656),who is despised by Shi'a as a usurper. This
defilement outraged the religious police and contributed to
tension between Shi'a worshippers and those who protect the
Baqi'a sites.


10. (U) This is a coordinated message from Riyadh, Jeddah,
and Dhahran.

FRAKER