In early 2011, al-Qahtani believed that "the only serious way to seek change is by slow and concentrated steps". He suggested that the families of political prisoners would be more motivated to carry out street protests, especially if women participated, compared to "liberals".[18] During the Arab Spring events of early 2011, al-Qahtani received telephone calls from political prisoners' families, prior to a 5 February 2011 protest in front of the Ministry of Interior in Riyadh[20] by 50 women. Al-Qahtani stated that "the small group spent the night in jail, but they got serious news coverage in the process."[18]