Saudi Arabia declared that this year’s Hajj has ended “successfully” despite the risk of "chaos" feared in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Saudi Arabia declared that this year’s Hajj has ended “successfully” despite the risk of "chaos" feared in the wake of the Arab Spring.

Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdel Aziz hailed the "success" as saying:   "We thank God for the success of this year's hajj, which was the best pilgrimage season to ever pass," state news agency SPA  quoted Nayef as telling the commanders of hajj security forces late on Tuesday.

"Some (pilgrims) were expected to exploit the international and regional changes taking place to cause chaos. But thank God this did not happen," SPA quoted Nayef, who also holds the interior portfolio, as saying.
"We thank all the pilgrims for proving that they are Muslims who respect this (hajj) rite and for being cooperative," the prince said.

The Hajj this year coincided with the Arab Spring democracy protests that have swept many nations in the region and led so far to the unseating of three autocratic leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.
The kingdom itself had been slightly touched by pro-democracy protests  in its Eastern Province a few times over the past months.

Saudi security forces have several times in the past confronted Iranian pilgrims holding anti-US and anti-Israeli protests.
In 1987, Saudi police efforts to stifle such a demonstration sparked clashes in which 402 people were martyred including 275 Iranians.