Protests are being planned to occur in the UAE on 25 March, according to a Facebook page, which has attracted more than 2,700 supporters.

The protests follow on from uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain, Libya and Oman. The Facebook page calling for protests in the UAE has been blocked.

Authorities in the UAE have been rattled by protests in the rest of the region, and have already announced plans for an increase in the number of citizens who can vote for members of the Federal National Council, and will spend $1.6bn on improving infrastructure in the poorer Northern Emirates.

The prospect of demonstrations in the UAE will follow protests planned to occur in Saudi Arabia on the 11 March. By 3 March, the Facebook page calling for protests in Saudi Arabia had attracted nearly 19,000 supporters.