Saudi march for Hezbollah draws thousands

Riyadh: More than 2,000 Saudi Shiites marched in the country's Eastern Province late on Tuesday to denounce Israel's military onslaught against Lebanon, the second rare protest this week in the kingdom.

Residents said up to 2,000 people took part in a march in Al Qatif and hundreds more marched in the neighbouring Al Awamiya.

A Shiite website carried photographs of the protesters, which included Saudi women and children, bearing pictures of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the group's yellow flag. It said Lebanese expatriates also took part.

"Not Sunnis, not Shiites it's one Islamic unity. Oh beloved Hezbollah, destroy Tel Aviv!" the website quoted the protesters as saying. Public protests are banned in Saudi Arabia. "There was a light security deployment monitoring the marches," a resident said.

Shiites said a heavy police deployment prevented them from staging similar protests over a week ago, but dozens of Saudi Shiites managed to hold protests on Sunday in the same areas.

Journalists, teachers rally for peace

The Yemeni journalists and teachers yesterday called on Arab and Islamic states to stop dealings with the UN organisations until a resolution on ceasefire in Lebanon is issued by the Security Council.

In a demonstration organised to show solidarity with Lebanon and Palestine, hundreds of journalists and teachers urged for continuation of expressing outrage and protests over the "Zionist-American terrorism" against the Lebanese and Palestinian people.

"We demand the Arab and Islamic States to call for an exceptional meeting of the UN General Assembly to condemn the Israeli acts and take resolutions for immediate ceasefire in Lebanon and Palestine," said a statement issued by the Yemen Journalists Syndicate.

The demonstrators also called for severing all relations with Israel. The rallyists handed over a petition at the Sanaa-based UN office demanding effective resolution to stop civilian deaths in Lebanon and Palestine.

Nasser Arrabyee, Correspondent