Iran Press/Middle East: Saudi media reported clashes, mortar attacks and shooting in Qatif 's Umm al-Hamam district on Monday, releasing the names of some of the victims.
Local sources said that Saudi forces had encircled the village for 15 hours and looted houses during the raid. The Saudi military claimed they were looking for wanted people, according to an Iran Press report.
Qatif, situated in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, has witnessed anti-regime protests since 2011, with demonstrators demanding free speech, release of political prisoners, and a halt to economic and religious discrimination.
Sheikh Nimr Bagher al-Nimr was a Shia cleric and a political activist calling for free elections in Saudi Arabia who was executed by the Al-e-Saud regime on 2 January 2016.
Riyadh has suppressed pro-democracy rallies, but they have intensified since January 2016 when the Al-e-Saud regime executed respected Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Bagher al-Nimr.
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In 2017, Awamiyah, another Shia-populated town near Qatif, witnessed a deadly military crackdown on protesters.
The demonstrators were on the streets because the regime was attempting to raze the historic Musawara neighborhood of the town, using the pretext of 'renovation'.
Saudi rulers claimed the district’s narrow streets served as a hideout for armed men behind attacks on Riyadh’s forces in Eastern province.
Riyadh then deployed military forces with heavy weapons to the town, while bulldozers escorted by heavily armored military vehicles demolished several houses, businesses and historical sites across the Shia-majority region.
Dozens of civilians were killed in the weeks-long military crackdown. Some 30,000 people also fled the town.
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