JEDDAH: Employees at the Family Protection Shelter in Jeddah are asking authorities to provide “official” protection due to the threats they receive from abusers who try to get at their victims.

According to a report in yesterday’s Al-Watan newspaper, the legal representative at the shelter, Omar Al-Kholi, said there is one police officer on duty as well as private security guards.

However, he pointed out that the security should be bolstered. Throughout Jeddah, hotels and compounds are provided high levels of security.

Workers at the shelter have complained of recurring incidents where angry family members in some cases threaten to murder workers at the shelter if they don’t return abuse victims to their violators.

“We are demanding official protection by police, but the demand is still being studied,” said Al-Kholi. "We receive many threats that we in most cases ignore them.”

The police representative at the shelter, Col. Muhammad Al-Qahtani, said a man deemed mentally ill recently entered the shelter and threatened staff members.

The man was arrested and admitted to a mental institution. For his part, Al-Qahtani says the local police recognize the special needs of the shelter and respect the role of family protection workers at the center.

Enam Al-Ruboie, who directs the center, said that the shelter is the last refuge for locally abused women and girls. She added that the center received threats “daily” and faced verbal abuse from violators who stop by the shelter in person trying to get their family members back.

“A few months ago, armed family members of a woman who is accusing her family of preventing her from getting married, attacked the shelter,” said Al-Ruboie. “The police dealt with their case. The abusers can easily get the phone numbers of the members of the protection home, but we are not afraid of them.”

Al-Kholi says it is extremely important that local officials understand the importance of the shelter’s mission. “We, as people working in the protection shelter, have the obligation to provide maximum protection to the abused,” he said.