This kind of behavior has cost the government a lot of money to repair and rehabilitate the properties.

Speaking to Arab News, a number of citizens expressed their anger of this growing phenomenon, the latest of which was the damage done to the ambulances of the Saudi Red Crescent Society in Yanbu when the youths were so defiant as to enter the building of the society while paramedics and other officials were inside.

The citizens said they had seen the ambulances in the streets on rescue missions with their sides full of graffiti.

“The weird writings were made in paint which could not be easily removed unless the car was repainted which would cost the government money,” they added.

The citizens warned that if the culprits were not found and caught, this tampering with public properties would continue forever. Nasser Al-Sinani, a Saudi citizen, called for severe punishments for those who tamper with public properties and said undercover police should be deployed to hunt them down.

“If these people are caught, severely punished for their illegal actions and publicly named, this would deter others with similar bad intentions,” he said.

Saadan Hamdan, another citizen, said the walls of many schools were marked by graffiti made by unknown individuals.

“These young people are sick. They need treatment and rehabilitation,” he said.

Hamdan said some municipalities had built special walls for young people to write on, thus sparing government buildings.

He recalled that a principal of a school bought paint at his own expense and asked the students to paint the school building from outside.

“This made the students feel responsible for the building which they themselves painted. Thus the principal saved his school from being defaced. This is a good idea which I hope to see in other places,” he said.

Ali Abu Isa called for punishing the young men who write on the walls of schools, municipalities, hospitals and other facilities.

He said he admired a judge who asked one of these young men to clean a mosque for a certain number of days as a sentence for his wrongdoing.