Thousands of views and comments were garnered by a video on social media, whose publishers claimed that it was for recent demonstrations that erupted in the Qatif Governorate in eastern Saudi Arabia once morest the authorities.
The video shows a large crowd of people, dressed in white, on a street at night.
However, the allegation is incorrect, as the old video was published 10 years ago on news websites, as it was for the funeral of a man who was killed in a security pursuit.
“Mass demonstrations from the citizens of Qatif in Saudi Arabia,” the accompanying commentary said. The posts garnered thousands of views and shares on Facebook and Twitter.
What do we know regarding Qatif?
Qatif, located in the oil-rich eastern region, where the majority of the Shiite minority resides, has witnessed security disturbances of varying severity since 2011, which the authorities attribute to “terrorists” or drug dealers.
Shiites make up between 10 to 15 percent of the kingdom’s population of 33 million people, according to “Agence France Presse”.
No credible local media has published any news regarding demonstrations taking place in the streets of Qatif, and AFP journalists in Saudi Arabia have not received information that Qatif has witnessed any developments of this kind recently.
Inspection through search engines showed that it was posted on YouTube on September 30, 2012, as part of the funeral ceremonies for people shot dead by the authorities, according to the publishers of the video, whose exact circumstances might not be established.
But three days before that, that is, on September 27, 2012, the Saudi Ministry of Interior had already announced the death of a wanted security guard in Qatif Governorate and one of his escorts, following they opened fire on security men in the town of Awamiya.
The mere publication of the video a decade ago denies that it is of recent demonstrations, as the misleading publications claimed.
