(CNN) Eleven Saudi princes were arrested Thursday after staging a sit-in at a palace in Riyadh, the kingdom's attorney general said Saturday.

The princes were protesting a recent royal order that "halted payments by the state to members of the royal family to cover their electricity and water utility bills," Sheikh Saud Al Mojeb said in a statement.

They also want compensation for the 2016 state execution of a cousin who was convicted of murder, the statement said.

Authorities had told the princes their demands were unlawful, but they refused to leave and public peace and order was disrupted, the attorney general said.

The princes were being detained at Al-Hayer prison south of Riyadh, the capital, pending trial.

Read More