of-term riot at a girls' school in Makkah on Monday led to smashed windows and furniture and police calling in women prison guards to extract the headmistress who had been locked in a classroom by unruly pupils. The completion of end-of-term examinations at the 17th Intermediate Girls' School on Mansour Street in Makkah reportedly led to the outburst of chaos in which the school principal - described by pupils as being “continually horrible to them” by “banning them from using mobile telephones and locking them in classrooms” - was the prime target of revenge. The headmistress's husband, however, refuted the pupils' accusations and said that action against them should have been taken sooner. “My wife has had more than one threat from pupils via phone calls and offensive text messages,” he said. “Most of the pupils are from Africa, and although I wouldn't want to make the whole thing out to be much more than the usual protests against school disciplinary measures, what happened shows a failing in the educational process because the authorities did not respond decisively to previous letters and warnings sent to the Girls' Education Administration.” The husband said that Monday's incident was resolved when his wife called him to get help and authorities in turn drafted in female prison guards to “free her” from where she had been locked in. “The rioting girls ran away from the building,” he added. A police official said he preferred not to comment as the events “occurred at a site pertaining to the Education Administration”, but noted that “police intervened to put an end to chaos at the site”, while the regional police spokesman added that the “police performed their duties within the bounds of their jurisdiction”.
