Col. Siraj Kamal, Director of Madina Traffic Department, admitted that the puncturing of tires of 50 buses for transporting pilgrims by traffic policemen was an uncivilized act. The buses were parked temporarily in two unpaved courtyards. However, Kamal stressed that it was the only means of stopping the violations of some bus drivers who attempted to deceive security patrols. He added that such drivers deserved punitive action for not abiding by traffic regulations. Meanwhile, Muhammad Shukri, Director of Cars General Syndicate branch in Madina Region, strongly criticized the Traffic Department personnel and described their action as unreasonable. He said he contacted the Traffic Department to stop policemen from damaging the buses. He said he received a promise from Lt. Col. Dehaim Al-Amri that the measure would be temporarily stopped until the parked buses were towed away. He pointed out that the syndicate's teams had towed over 200 buses from the two courtyards. A traffic police patrol punctured the tires of several buses parked in Al-Zahidiah Courtyard at the entrance to Quba Road, east of the Prophet's Mosque. A number of bus drivers complained that this action delayed many of them from reaching the accommodations of their Haj missions. One of them said he stopped his bus at a mosque near the courtyard to give the pilgrims an opportunity to do some shopping before returning to their residences. He said he had to spend more than three hours to inflate the tires that were punctured by traffic policemen. Another driver said the tires of three buses belonging to the Turkish Haj mission were also punctured.
