Watch Video: Expat Held Over Arson In Saudi Arabian City Of Mecca
Saudi police said they had arrested a Turkish resident suspected of arson in Mecca.
The man appeared in a video clip setting two parked cars on fire in a public place, the police added in an X post. There was no word about when the incident happened or the motive.
— مكة (@maka85244532) May 10, 2024
A video circulating on social media showed a man torching a parked luxury car on an unspecified road.
The arsonist is seen in the video filmed by a surveillance camera carrying two jericans apparently containing petrol, approaching a Mercedes and torching it before fleeing the scene.
In a separate incident of violence, Saudi police said they had arrested five people in Riyadh for involvement in a mass brawl the cause of which was not immediately clear.
A sixth man was also arrested in connection to the same brawl for filming the violence and publishing the clip in breach of the kingdom’s anti-cybercrime law.
Saudi authorities have recently made arrests linked to different cases of law-breaking and violence.
شرطة منطقة مكة المكرمة تقبض على مقيم لإشعاله النار في مركبتين في مكان عام pic.twitter.com/YQHv0O2dR9
— الأمن العام (@security_gov) May 11, 2024
Earlier this month, police said they had arrested a number of Bangladeshi expatriates for public violence in Riyadh.
The police said the offenders had appeared in a video clip quarrelling with each other in a public place.
In October, Saudi police said they had arrested six women who had appeared in a video engaged in a fistfight in a public place. The arrests were made in the city of H’ail in north-western Saudi Arabia.
A video going viral on social media showed several women involved in a brawl at a coffee shop. The females were seen in the footage exchanging fists and kicks as workers were looking on in astonishment.
Also that month, the Riyadh police said they had arrested an unspecified number of people suspected of involvement in a car hit-and-shooting incident in Al Kharj governorate south east of the Saudi capital. The violence, due to an unspecified row, left two dead and two others wounded.
Late last year, Saudi police said they had arrested 10 Yemeni expatriates involved in a group brawl that had left two persons injured in Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia, a country of around 32.2 million people, is home to a large community of expatriate workers.
