S Arabia deploys police amid riots

RIYADH: Saudi police on Thursday deployed its police force in a poor neighbourhood of Riyadh after rioting by illegal migrants the previous night left one person dead, an AFP correspondent said.

In the commercial capital Jeddah, security forces dispersed a large protest by illegal migrants and arrested five Ethiopians suspected of organising the demonstration, a police spokesman said.

Protests are banned in the ultra-conservative kingdom, where tensions have been spiralling since the authorities began rounding up thousands of illegal residents following the expiry on November 4 a final amnesty for them to formalise their status.

Among them are foreigners who overstayed their visas, pilgrims who have sought jobs,and migrants working under one sponsor trying to get jobs elsewhere.

Clashes on Wednesday between Saudis and illegal migrants in the southern Riyadh neighbourhood of Manfuhah left one Sudanese national dead and 17 people injured, police reported.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 15^th, 2013.