Egyptians to stage anti-Saudi rally

Rights activists in Egypt have called for a protest outside the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Cairo as Riyadh continues to support autocratic regimes and extremist groups.

The Tuesday rally is set to condemn Saudi interference to prevent the trial of Egypt’s ousted President Hosni Mubarak.

Saudi billionaire Prince Al-Walid bin Talal has reportedly offered a huge amount of money in a bid to hurdle Mubarak’s trial.

Al-Walid recently met with a number of authorities in the new Egyptian government and reportedly proposed to pay them some four billion dollars

He also sought immunity from prosecution, for Mubarak’s family.

The Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz was the first Arab leader to express full support for Mubarak and to describe the Egyptian revolutionary forces as a handful of ‘infiltrators.’

Reports say protesters will also call on Riyadh to stop backing radical groups that threaten Egypt’s security.

This comes after Saturday’s sectarian clashes between Salafis and Coptic Christians in Cairo left at least 12 people dead and hundreds of others wounded.

Another extremist group funded by Saudi Arabia in Egypt’s northern city of Alexandria desecrated Shia religious shrines weeks earlier.

Saudi-backed forces have also destroyed more than a dozen mosques in the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain over the past few weeks.