On May 12, the Al-Akhbar daily newspaper carried the following report: “The Saudi authorities implemented their earlier threats by demolishing the historical neighborhood of Al-Masoura in the town of Awamiyah in Al-Qatif governorate, which is administratively part of the Eastern Province. The people of the neighborhood are living in a state of terror as their neighborhood has turned into a real war zone. The same goes for the neighboring neighborhoods as the authorities have imposed a strict security belt on the entire Awamiyah by closing all the town’s entrances.

“Yesterday, the authorities used power, gunfire and raids against the people who refused to leave the neighborhood and to abide by the government’s request that they vacate their houses. Local sources indicated that two people were killed in the area in addition to around sixteen wounded individuals as a result of the extensive and random gunfire in the neighborhood amidst a state of anger reigning over the towns of Al-Qatif and the Eastern Province. The sources indicated that a worker from the Indian community was killed in the attack in addition to another man from the area called Ali Abdulaziz Abou Abdullah.

“The people were unable to drive the wounded victims, including elderly, to the hospitals because of the siege imposed on the town. One of the area’s activists told Al-Akhbar that the attack was carried out by the Saudi emergency forces, which are affiliated to the ministry of interior. He called the attack a “barbaric and brutal intrusion.” The attack was launched around 3.30 AM. The security forces brought in a number of bulldozers and demolition equipment in addition to a large number of tanks and armed men with black masks.

“A local source told Al-Akhbar that the people are living through a state of war in the town where all life aspects have stopped as the people, around 30,000 individuals, have remained in their homes since Wednesday morning. In addition, students were unable to go to school. The same sources said that the authorities demolished a number of houses before halting the demolition process and sending patrols in the streets in fear of a potential reaction by the people against the demolition process and also in an attempt at forcing whoever was left there to leave before proceeding with the demolition.

“The people of Al-Masoura and Awamiyah in general oppose the demolition of this historical neighborhood that includes more than 400 buildings… Most of these buildings are around 200 years old, were built according to the old style, and preserve the Awamiyah’s historical memory, which the government has started to completely erase. The government is saying that the demolition project aims at modernizing the buildings and implementing a modern construction project.

“However, a large part of the people of Awamiyah, which constitutes a main stronghold of the peaceful opposition movement, are suspicious about the Authority’s intentions and accusing it of seeking vengeance against the area because of its people’s affiliation to the opposition movement. Awamiyah is the hometown of Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, one of the peaceful popular movement’s figures in Al-Qatif. The authorities had executed him more than a year ago.

“In addition, the Al-Masoura neighborhood is the heart of the old Awamiyah town. It was built 300 years ago and was called Al-Masoura because of the wall [Sour in Arabic] erected around it… The pretext given by the authorities to demolish the houses there is that they constitute a threat to the dwellers. The authorities are also making promises to launch developmental projects in this marginalized and poor region. However, the people of Awamiyah are not falling for these pretexts as they are still rejecting this project and stressing on the presence of “retaliation intentions” against the people especially as the authorities did not respond to their demands to rehabilitate the neighborhood such as the case of other similar areas around the Kingdom.

“Media outlets affiliated to the Saudi regime are insinuating that a number of wanted activists are barricading themselves in Al-Masoura neighborhood, in an attempt at justifying the raids and random shootings that have been repeatedly taking place for a while especially following the issuing of the decision to demolish their neighborhood. The sources indicated that, on top of the tragic humanitarian situation lived by Awamiyah, the [demolition] operation constituted a dangerous escalation, one that increased the tension and deepened the gap with the people of the Eastern Province, which was originally “marginalized and in disagreement with the regime.””