Saudi Arabia is about the only country over there not boiling over with unrest. Sounds like the King has decided it is time to nip it. Self-preservation can be a powerful motivator.
Actually that is not exactly true.
A few months ago I posted some articles about protests in SA. Which is unusual as protests are not permitted. And we might not hear about such events as it is a closed society.
Of all places Wikipedia has a timeline of events that have been happening http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Saudi_Arabian_protests