The Civil Defense has issued orders to its staff to employ the “regulatory use of force” against anyone “attempting to impede firefighters or rescue workers in the performance of their duties.” The instructions came in a strongly worded urgent missive issued by Civil Defense chief Sa'ad Al-Tuwaijiri in which he says that “no leniency will be shown to any person holding up the arrival on the scene of any incident.” “We require nobody's permission to attend to our work, and the law authorizes us to enter any site of disaster, drowning or fire, including academic institutions, boys and girls' schools, universities, hospitals, women's organizations, or any other location,” the missive states. In the order Al-Tuwaijiri describes the work of the Civil Defense as “not about proceeding in accordance with routine measures, but about immediate intervention and quick decision-making to save lives and property.”
