ABHA, 30 November 2006 — Authorities in the southern Asir region arrested 14 people, including two 10-year-old children, a 70-year-old man and an 80-year-old woman, following a clash between police and squatters on Sunday.
Brig. Gen. Awad Al-Sarhani was leading an operation to remove people who have established homes on government property when a group of locals began throwing stones at the officials in an attempt to drive them away, an official told Arab News yesterday. The official said without elaborating that somebody from the squatters’ side also fired a weapon at the police.
Al-Sarhani and another officer were treated at Al-Madani Hospital for minor injuries. The two officers were released on Tuesday. An investigation into the incident is ongoing.
The source, who did not want to be named because he isn’t authorized to speak officially, said the squatters refused to move from the land until the government compensated them for their investment in developing homes on the land.
The detained are going to be charged with assaulting police as well as developing property on government-owned land.
The police did not say what would happen to either the two minors who were detained for throwing rocks or the old man and woman who would likely need special care if they ended up behind bars.
