Prominent Iraqi Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr called for demonstrations in Gulf countries and in Iraq to protest the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia.
“I ask that the Shias of Saudi Arabia ... show courage in responding even through peaceful demonstrations, and the same for the Shias in the Gulf, so as to deter injustice and government terrorism in the future,” he said on his website.
“I urge ... angry demonstrations in front of Saudi sites and interests, and I urge the government to refrain from opening the Saudi embassy,” he said.
Already scores of Shia in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province marched through Nimr’s home district of Qatif shouting “down with the Al Saud”, and dozens more gathered in Indian controlled Kashmiri. In Bahrain, a Sunni-ruled island kingdom allied to Saudi Arabia, protesters clashed violently with police.
Shia leaders in Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, and Yemen also warned of reprisals, in a signal that sectarian conflicts across the Middle East could be further inflamed.
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