Football is emerging as a focal point of dissent in Saudi Arabia, which is "struggling to fend off the waves of change sweeping the Middle East and North Africa," according to James M. Dorsey of MIDDLE EAST ONLINE. Fan pressure "is evolving as a potent tool in the absence of the right to protest." It follows intermittent demonstrations and at times deadly clashes with security forces in the kingdom's predominantly Shiite Eastern Province that hosts its major oil fields, "as well protests by family members of activists imprisoned for lengthy periods of time without being charged." In the latest assertion of fan power, "a Facebook page entitled Nasrawi Revolution demands the resignation of Prince Faisal bin Turki," the owner of Riyadh club Al Nasser FC and nephew of King Abdullah. The campaign against Prince Faisal follows last year's unprecedented resignation of Prince Nawaf bin Feisal as head of the Saudi Football Federation, "the first royal to be persuaded by public pressure step down in a region where monarchial control of the sport is seen as politically important" (MIDDLE EAST ONLINE, 5/12).
