(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Tens of Canadian Shia Muslims took to the streets this weekend to display their antipathy towards what they call the anti-democratic government of Saudi Arabia. Activists voiced concerns with the backing the Saudi monarchy receives from Western governments which regularly claim to be concerned with Human Rights and democracy in the Middle East.

These activists refer to Saudi Arabia as a puppet state of the United States who they accuse of engaging in a divide and rule strategy in order to control the resources and destiny of the inhabitants of the region.

Many of the protesters were Shia Muslims who were particularly upset with the arrest and subsequent brutalization of the Saudi Shia cleric and human rights advocate Sheik Nemr.

Activists emphasized that they were keen to see Muslims unite to resist the attempts by the imperialist countries to foment sectarianism in the Middle East. Such 'divide and rule' policies, they say, are being exhibited currently in Syria where Israel, the United States, Qatar and Saudi Arabia are playing on confessional and ethnic differences in an attempt to weaken one of the more stable and prosperous countries in the region.

/129