On Monday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross expressed awe at the fact that there were no Saudi Arabian protests during President Trump’s recent visit to the nation.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross recently expressed awe at the fact that there were no Saudi Arabian protests during President Trump’s visit to the nation.
During an appearance on CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ Monday he told anchor Becky Quick, “there was not a single hint of a protester anywhere there during the whole time we were there. Not one guy with a bad placard.”
Quick swiftly noted, “…that may be not necessarily because they don't have those feelings there, but because they control people and don't allow them to come and express their feelings quite the same as we do here.”
Ross didn’t fully discount the possibility, but wasn’t entirely receptive to it, either. He replied, “In theory that could be true. But boy there was certainly no sign of it. There was not a single effort at any incursion. There wasn't anything. The mood was a genuinely good mood.”
Notably, in 2011, Saudi Arabia declared a prohibition on public displays of dissent, reports Business Insider.
A statement from the ministry released at that time read, in part, “Regulations in the kingdom forbid categorically all sorts of demonstrations, marches and sit-ins...as they contradict Islamic Sharia law and the values and traditions of Saudi society."
