Protests in the Qatif following the arrest of Sheikh Nimr Al-Nirm on July 8, 2012 (Photo credit: Occupy Qatif/Facebook)

On Wednesday September 19, 2012, we held our fifth #MuftahChat on Twitter. This week’s topic focused on the protests in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. We were joined by special guest, Ali Al-Saffar, a young blogger from Qatif. Al-Saffer shared some historical background on the protests, talked about the movements mobilizations strategies  and put the protests into a regional context. The following is an edited version of the transcript.