Fatima Sidiya Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — A clip of two girls being verbally harassed by a group of young boys in the Corniche area has gone viral on Twitter and YouTube Sunday, virtually triggering a debate on social media.
The trending hashtag of the harassment incident also got the authorities to act with Makkah Emir Khaled Al-Faisal ordering the Makkah police to investigate the incident and apprehend the persons in the clip. The early morning incident, as revealed by the video in the 30-second-long clip circulating on Twitter and the minute-long version on YouTube, took place at the end of Sari Street at the Corniche. The incident took place during early morning hours when police presence is usually low. The clip basically shows a large group of boys following the two girls and later shows them surrounding the girls while blocking their efforts to escape. From the brief audio of the clip, which has overlapping sounds of the area, it seems that the boys were asking the girls to go out with them, while some were seeking their phone numbers. The two girls, though terrified at being hemmed in by the group, stayed calm and refrained from egging on the mob with some caustic replies. Though one of them did scream for help. The clip, once it went viral, sparked a huge public outrage and debate on Twitter on the behavior of the group of youth. One woman asked: “What are the factors that turn a group of youth into hunting wolves?” While another said there were no real men present at the scene and they had no honor. There were strong comments from some other people asking for more powers and involvement of the Haia (Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice) because if they had been present there, none of this would have happened. There were some people who blamed the girls for the way they had dressed, while some others questioned their presence at the Corniche without a male guardian and at that hour. Shaikha Zahran said in her tweet that "women who overdress deserve what she gets." The tweets also called for a law against harassment and that it should be created and activated soon, while another tweet, from a woman, said women should be allowed to carry pepper spray and electric shock guns. Ali Al-Rasha wrote on his Twitter account that putting firm regulations that would apply to such cases will prevent any similar incidents from taking place in the future. Hashim Al-Fawaz agreed with him and believed that framing such a law is a must. But Fatima Al-Jarid noted that there was no need for an anti-harassment law if women stick to hijab. "If an anti-harassment law is put into action, then we need another law that intertwines with it, which is an anti-overdress law for women." But the most incisive tweet was: “The reputation of Saudi youth is going down, on one hand they are joining terrorist groups and on the other they are committing such acts." This comment was tweeted repeatedly.
