MAKKAH, 6 February 2008 — Five people, including a child and a high-ranking police officer, were injured when squatters resisted efforts by officials to remove them from government land in a Makkah suburb.
The scuffle broke out in Wadi Jaleel, east of Makkah, yesterday morning when officials from the Maabda Municipality, escorted by police, arrived to remove squatters from a piece of land.
The child, who was hit by a bullet in the right thigh, was taken to hospital.
The municipality had constituted a panel of officials for the task of removing squatters from public land. The panel faced stiff resistance from a group of citizens in the Wadi Jaleel area yesterday.
“We have been living in this area for several years. Where were the municipality all these years?” asked the citizens living in the area.
The panel with the support of security officers conducted six hours of negotiations with the citizens and asked them to bring legal documents to prove their ownership of the land.
Some citizens showed the deeds issued by a court in Makkah but the panel refused to accept them. The panel insisted that the buildings in the area were illegal and must be removed.
The citizens, who were accompanied by their wives and children, requested municipal officials to give them time to prove their ownership.
Some citizens said title deeds issued earlier have expired and need to be endorsed by a court in Makkah. But the courts have stopped endorsing such deeds after a royal decree banned issuance of deeds for lands within the precincts of the two holy harams.
Ahmed Munshi, deputy municipal chairman of Maabda, said the Makkah governorate has issued orders to remove all makeshift buildings in the area. “We are the authority to execute that order,” he added.
