as you can see, in order to reach awamiyah you have to ta ke in order to reach awamiyah you have to take vehicle and be in the company of police and special forces. the government says it is in control now by the security situation is quite tense. as i look through the window i can see that the town is almost deserted. the scale of devastation here is shocking. as we entered the place of the government ex—cop bash mac escort we see what is left of a once vibrant residential area. a large shia community used to live here. they have long protested against what they call discrimination. the confrontation to a violent turn last may when the authority started to demolish the area as part of what they see is a development project. shia groups accuse the government of forcing people to leave with the aim of crushing dissent. but even today the fighting is not over yet. they just asked us to leave and we have to go at once because it is not safe to stay. the saudis say they are also targeted, these videos released by the ministry of the interior show attacks from police forces in the area. the m

hundreds of civilians have reportedly fled the town of awamiyah in the predominantly shia east of saudihes. the saudi government accuses shia militant groups of taking up arms against the security forces, in order to destabilise the country. violence broke out in awamiya, after the government started relocating people, to make way for what it says is a development project. it accuses shia militants men of using the old town as a hideout. the bbc gained rare access to the town. this is the level of security needed to visit awamiya, a shia— dominated town in the east of the sunni conservative saudi arabia. 0ver town in the east of the sunni conservative saudi arabia. over the past weeks, there have been violent clashes here between government forces and groups of shia fighters. at least dozens were killed, including civilians and police troops. it is quite difficult to get here. only very few journalists managed to make it to awamiya. as you can see, in order to reach awamiya you have to take this armed vehicle and be in the company police special forces the government says it is under co