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Video: Saudi Girls Blamed for Being Attacked Outside Mall

· Written by Amira Al Hussaini

Categories: Middle East & North Africa, Saudi Arabia, Citizen Media, Religion, Women & Gender
A screenshot from the video which shows the scuffle between the man and the girls

A screenshot from the video which shows the scuffle between the man and the girls

A video showing young men harassing women in a shopping mall in Dhahran, the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia, is causing a storm online.

This video [1] of the incident shows a mob following girls out of a mall – and a scuffle that follows between the girls and some of the boys. Other versions of the video have been removed from YouTube after the furor.

In this YouTube video, which is still available, cccoppwew [2] puts the blame on the girls, for not covering up properly [ar]:

اختي خروجك بحجاب سافر وارتياد الاسواق بدون محرم وبدون ضروره لعدم وجود اغراض معك يدل على عدم الضروره احمي نفسك من ضعاف النفوس والله لو كنتي ملتزمه بحجابك واخذتي اغراضك الضروريه لما تعرض لك احد

الحمد لله على الستر

My sister, you have left your home without a proper hijab (veil) that doesn't not cover you fully and gone to a mall without a male chaperon and without the need [to go to the mall] because you are not carrying any shopping bags with you. Protect yourself from the weak. If you were properly dressed and went to the mall to finish buy necessities, no one would have stopped you.
Thank God for chastity.

Although the girls had their hair covered and were wearing a abaya, the black cloak which fully covers the body, the commotion seems to be because they did not cover their faces too.

Comments on their dress-code recurs on Twitter, under the hashtag [ar] #تحرش_شباب_بفتيات_بالشرقيه [3] which translates to Youth Harass Girls in the Eastern Province.

Manar Alkhalidi also points fingers at the girls:

I agree that there are young men who have no shame and do not fear God, but if those girls kept to themselves and not show off [their femininity] no one would have approached them

And this Twitter user also wonders why the girls did not follow the strict dress-code imposed on Saudi women – full coverage, from top to bottom, in black:

Why weren't they properly covered? Doesn't Eve know that an animal would betray you when he gets hungry?

But Luma Alnami says the men are at fault:

Some people whose mentality is like the animals we saw in the video put the blame on the girls. You would harass a garbage bag if you saw it moving.

Sara agrees:

I repeat, no matter how much the girl shows of her body, it is no excuse for you to harass her unless you are an animal

And this user complains about the onlookers who filmed and posted the videos of the attack:

The ridiculous person who filmed the attack should be put on trial and arrested and made an example out of for the herd he has filmed showing off their lack of manhood.

Meanwhile, Moheeb Alsheikh asks where were the authorities when this happened:

In case we ignore the manners of the girls and boys in the video and their upbringing, the question is: where are the authorities? Where is the security? Where is the Commission [Saudi religious police aka Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice]? And where are the good young men? Where are you?

And Khalid offers a solution:

The solution is simple: 100 per cent women only malls and this ends the problem for both sides, because the young men are adolescents and there is no law to stop them and the women wear make up