“The “politicized” speech contained many distortions and mystifying hints,” the spokesman of the ministry Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki said in a statement on Monday.
The sheikh, discussed in the sermon, the incidents of rioting and confrontations between security forces and a few rioters in the governorate, Al-Turki said.
While the speaker said clearly in his speech that he disapproved violent acts of the misguided Qatif youths toward security forces, he repeatedly rejected the legitimate right of the government to confront those rioters, the spokesman said.
“In this manner he pretends to forget the fact that the youths’ rioting acts is a new form of terrorism and that the state has the full right to check such acts as the government did in other attempts of terror attacks in the past without any regional or sectarian discrimination,” the spokesman said.
The official source added that the security forces in the Kingdom would counter with an “iron fist” and determination any situation that goes out of control, similar to what the forces countered during all terror attacks in the past.
The official source also disapproved the speaker’s comparison of the events in some Qatif towns to the bloodbaths taking place in some neighboring countries as unjustifiable and baseless. “The security forces did not transgress on anyone. They acted only in legitimate self defense as the situation demanded,” he said.
He added that the security forces reacted with professionalism and self control despite numerous provocations and hostile acts by the rioters.
“Even though a number of policemen were injured in the rioters’ attacks, the security forces did not act except in self defense. They did not initiate any act of confrontation nor did they arrest any one for the crime of another person,” he said.
