RIYADH, 11 March 2006 — Eight members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Madinah and Yanbu were injured last week in fights with Saudi youths, Al-Riyadh daily reported yesterday.
One member of the commission was seriously injured after his nose was broken during a fight with teenagers allegedly harassing women in Madinah.
“The two incidents happened in Madinah and Yanbu on Wednesday,” said Ibraheem Al-Ghaith, the head of the commission.
“The incident in Madinah was related to a moral issue and the one in Yanbu followed harassment of a group of girls by some youths during the flower festival. Police arrested a number of them and they are under investigation. We will ensure that such incidents are not repeated in the future,” he said.
Al-Ghaith said that the incidents in Madinah and Yanbu are alarming as they come after similar incidents in Riyadh. He urged Saudi youths to stop wrongdoings and stand by the commission members and the police to ensure peace and security.
As for the attacks against the commission members, Al-Ghaith said, “We have to defend our members. However, we do not accept anyone attacking our members or one of our members attacking anyone.”
He said that the commission members were defending the honor of women and that they are assigned by the government to encourage morality.
As for unifying their department with police, Al-Ghaith said that their job is to support the police and that has been the case till now. He said that there are police officers working with the agency.
As for the recurring attacks against commission members, he said they were orchestrated by a minority and would stop soon.
Al-Ghaith urged parents to closely monitor the behavior of their children and help keep them from wrongdoing. He also urged the youth to be rational and do not attack commission members because they are there to protect them and not to harm them.
