RIYADH (Reuters) – Police turned out in large numbers on the streets of the capital of Saudi Arabia and security was high in a number of other Gulf States, as authorities braced for possible protests after Friday prayers.

Friday demonstrations have proved decisive in popular uprisings that have overthrown the rulers of Tunisia and Egypt and are now having an impact on the oil-rich Gulf region — long thought to be largely immune to civil unrest.

RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia’s capital was quiet on Friday ahead of a planned day of demonstrations that will test whether activists calling for reform online will succeed in taking their protests to the streets.

A loose coalition of liberals, rights activists, moderate Sunni Islamists and Shi’ite Muslims has called for political reform and a Facebook page calling for demonstrations attracted more than 30,000 supporters, but protests are strictly forbidden in the conservative kingdom.

and Cynthia Johnston RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi police fired in the air to disperse protesting Shi’ites on Thursday, and three people were injured in the melee on the eve of a day of protests called for on social media, witnesses and activists said.

Shots were heard near the protest by around 200 Shi’ites in the town of Qatif in Eastern Province, home to some of the world’s largest oil fields and a large Shi’ite minority.

RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi police used force to disperse a demonstration by minority Shi’ites on Thursday, injuring up to four people on the eve of a day of protests called for on social media, witnesses and activists said.

Shots were heard near a protest by around 200 Shi’ites in the town of Qatif in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, home to some of the world’s largest oil fields and a large Shi’ite minority.

RIYADH (Reuters) – Gulf Arab oil producers launched on Thursday a $20 billion aid package for Bahrain and Oman, both of which are facing anti-government protests inspired by uprisings across the Arab world.

The job-generating measure, which will give $10 billion to each country to upgrade their housing and infrastructure over 10 years, was above the $10 billion to $15 billion indicated by officials during discussions this week.

RIYADH (Reuters) – Sitting in front of a Bedouin-style tent in a suburb of the Saudi capital, Said ponders aloud whether to risk prison by joining mass protests on Friday in the conservative kingdom.

“I should really go but don’t know,” the young man said, meeting fellow pro-democracy activists at a weekly salon-style gathering where they discuss politics and reform.

RIYADH (Reuters) – A senior Saudi prince questioned the need for a ban on women driving on Wednesday and said lifting it would be a quick first step to reduce the Islamic kingdom’s dependence on millions of foreign workers.

The Gulf Arab state is a monarchy ruled by the al-Saud family in alliance with clerics from the strict Wahhabi school of Islam. Women must be covered from head to toe in public and are not allowed to drive.

RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal threw his weight behind Saudi stocks on Wednesday, saying he would invest 1 billion riyals ($267 million) in a market pummelled by unrest in the Arab world.

Prince Alwaleed, a nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah and a prominent investor in Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), said at a press conference that he had invested more than 500 million riyals in banks, petrochemicals, telecoms, industrial and consumer stocks, and was ready to spend a similar amount in the future.

RIYADH, March 9 (Reuters) – Saudi billionaire Prince
Alwaleed bin Talal said his company, Kingdom Holding 4280.SE
was still in talks with Kuwait’s Zain <ZAIN.KW) to buy the
telecom’s Saudi assets.

Asked if he would make a new offer for Zain Saudi after the
company’s previous bid was rejected, Prince Alwaleed said at a
conference in Riyadh that Kingdom Holding 4280.SE was still in
talks with parent Zain.

RIYADH, March 9 (Reuters) – Saudi billionaire Prince
Alwaleed bin Talal threw his weight behind Saudi stocks on
Wednesday, saying he would invest 1 billion riyals ($267
million) in a market pummelled by Middle East unrest.

Prince Alwaleed, a prominent investor in Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz),
said at a press conference in the Saudi capital that he had
invested more than 500 million riyals in banks, petrochemicals,
telecoms, industrial and consumer stocks, and was ready to spend
a similar amount in the future.