This is not common at all. Saudi Jeans has this commentary:
This is getting more and more intense. In a country where public demonstrations are illegal, two demonstrations during a short period like this should indicate that a significant change is probably taking place. Moreover, both demonstrations occurred in the most ultra-conservative part of the Kingdom. Some argue that these detainees deserve to be where they are, but I think that whether they were innocent or not, they have the right to a public fair trial immediately.
And this is from Reuters:
RIYADH (Reuters) - Wives of Saudi men detained as part of a Saudi crackdown on militants fighting to topple the U.S.-allied monarchy held a protest on Saturday demanding the men be tried publicly.
The protest was the second this summer, after a similar one in July which led to the brief detention of some of the women.
The women gathered outside provincial offices in the town of Buraida north of Riyadh, said Mohammed Saleh al-Bijadi, a supporter of the protesting women.
"We demand that the men are granted their right to have lawyers and that they face a public trial," said a statement handed by the group of eight women and their children to the authorities...
