Saudi Police Set Up Checkpoints Ahead of Anti-Monarchy Protest

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB9UIRMS2E.html

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Police set up checkpoints and checked identity cards Thursday along streets leading to the area in the Saudi capital where anti-monarchists were expected to try to hold an illegal demonstration called by an exiled dissident.

A helicopter flew in an overcast sky as policemen in brown winter uniforms stood next to their parked cars along two parallel thoroughfares - Olaya Street and King Fahd Road. The roads run along the al-Faisaliah complex, which houses hotels, an office tower building and a popular mall.

London-based dissident Saad al-Fagih, head of the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, had called via his TV, radio and Web site for simultaneous protests in Riyadh and the eastern seaport of Jiddah. The group failed to pull off protests last month. Last year, it mobilized only about 100 protesters in Riyadh and similar numbers in Jiddah, Dammam and Hail, partly because large numbers of security forces waited at the demonstration venues.

Al-Fagih's groups says it seeks to replace the monarchy with a liberal, moderate system of government. In today's Saudi Arabia, the king wields absolute power. There are no legal political parties. Public protests are banned and the press is controlled.

more

[Brundle_Fly]

1. I have been following bits and

pieces of this story. The kingdom should be scared me thinks.

I wonder if the US has troops ready to help them out?

[NNN0LHI]

2. DynCorp mercenaries by the thousands n/t