JEDDAH, 16 June 2005 — Jeddah’s traffic and criminal police and the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice were out in full force on Tahlia Street early yesterday morning. They were waiting for the arrival of the shabab (youth) who were celebrating the official last day of school and the end of final examinations.
Beginning at eight o’clock in the morning, traffic around Tahlia Street began to build up as students who had finished their last exam took to the streets in celebration. The resulting traffic jams became worse when police began blocking off streets around Danube supermarket, thereby cutting off some young drivers.
The traffic police’s impound yard on Tahlia Street was crowded with young men, pleading their cases after having committed various offenses and begging for their cars to be released. One young man met friends at his home, drove one kilometer toward Tahlia Street and then got caught at a checkpoint.
“I didn’t have my license with me and there was no registration in the car so they impounded it. I didn’t even get a chance to cruise down Tahlia once,” he told Arab News as he looked for a taxi.
One taxi driver, parked at Jeddah International Mall waiting for a fare, said: “There is no sense in going down Tahlia right now because everyone there has a car or is in one. The streets are blocked off and it’s crowded. The police are harassing everyone, especially taxi drivers and young drivers. I am better off here.”
At malls and supermarkets normally frequented by the shabab on weekends, security guards were at the entrances, barring any young men from entering. At Le Mall, a security guard told Arab News that the shabab were exceptionally well behaved on this particular occasion. “The muttawas are here now. The kids at Starbucks know that they’re being watched so, they are behaving,” he explained.
The commission’s patrol SUV was parked directly in front of the singles and family entrances to Starbucks at Le Mall from eight o’clock in the morning until one hour before dhur (noon) prayers. Inside were a member of the commission and a police officer. According to the commission official in the SUV, everyone was on their best behavior.
Osama, aged 16, had an older cousin rent a Mazda 323 for him. “I’ve had this car for a week and I have been practicing my skids in order to show off this weekend,” he told Arab News. “If the police think Wednesday morning was busy for them, wait until Wednesday and Thursday night and Friday morning.”
