JEDDAH – Several youths have been taken into custody for their role in harassing two young girls in the Corniche area earlier this week. The video of the incident went viral and created an outrage following which Emir of Makkah Prince Khaled Al-Faisal ordered a probe into the whole episode. Subsequently, a working team was set up to gather all details and verify the contents of the video clip, Col. Dr. Ati Atiyah Al-Qurashi, spokesman of Makkah Police, said. The working team's findings resulted in the arrest of several suspects. The police initially recorded their statements and handed them over to pertinent authorities. Earlier in the day, the Makkah governorate announce on its Twitter account that one of the suspects whose picture appeared in the harassment video has been arrested and handed over to concerned authorities for questioning. The harassment video triggered a debate on the social media with a woman asking on Tweet: “What are the factors that turn a group of youth into hunting wolves?” While another Tweet said there were no real men present at the scene and they had no honor. There were some people who blamed the girls for the way they had dressed, while others questioned their presence at the Corniche without a male guardian and at that hour. 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. 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. 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.
