Malls in Jeddah, Riyadh and Dammam are not only popular shopping venues but are also the places where families gather for meals. The children’s playgrounds in malls are also very popular.

With many youths also on holiday, some malls ban single men from entering, saying they have a tendency to harass women. On the other hand, some malls allow single men to enter to curb youngsters from gathering outside and being even bigger nuisance.

“We are trying our best to decrease the number of incidents in which young men harass women. We’ve launched several programs inside the mall to divert the youth’s attention,” said Seraj Felali, acting general manager at Red Sea Mall, a popular mall in Jeddah.

“With the beginning of the summer season the number of visitors has increased. This has encouraged us to double our security staff inside the mall as well as on the gates,” he added.

According to Felali, people are not overly concerned with shopping. Many people come to meet relatives, neighbors and friends inside malls. They have meals and enjoy sitting in restaurants and coffeehouses.

“Unfortunately, not all mall visitors are made up of families. There are many youths who visit us, especially on the weekend, to sit in coffeehouses, restaurants and flirt. This turns some families off. The youngsters are generally not bothered with buying clothes and partaking in the summer activities,” he added.

“As we receive lots of families, we felt there was a need to control youths and so we banned them from entering. After the ban, we soon realized that these youngsters were standing in the car lots flirting with girls and bothering them. Some of them were driving recklessly in front of the mall gates to attract attention. We then allowed them in as a strategy to calm them down,” Felali said.

Now in conjunction with the police, the mall has set up a summer safety plan. “We have earmarked special security guards to control the youths who visit us. Those who look strange, wear strange clothes and have funky hair are stopped from entering. This makes them angry, scream and abuse security staff and girls outside the mall,” said Felali.

“We then decided to invite about four police squads to stand outside the mall. The officers take complaints from girls who are harassed by these youngsters,” he added.

Felali said a large number of harassment cases occur during the summer, especially during the weekend. Eighty percent of these cases end up in court. The police sometimes play a role in resolving cases before they reach courts.

“Most of the complaints that we receive are from elderly women. Young girls are passive and deal with the harassment differently. Families need to control their daughters and should stop them from visiting malls alone,” said Felali.

The situation seems different in other malls. “We have security guards around the mall and on the main gates. Only families are allowed to enter. To avoid any possible problems, youths are banned from entering during the summer,” said Anas Al-Serafi, general manger of Serafi Mega Mall.

Al-Serafi said there are a number of festivals, campaigns and bazaars held during the summer, and as a result the number of visitors also increases. Families spend many hours at the mall and sit till late. It is because of this the mall felt it appropriate to employ a large number of security guards for the summer.

“Most people who visit malls these days are harassed by young men. Girls who are alone are especially targeted. I used to visit the mall every weekend during the year to have breakfast with friends,” said Suzan Mulla, a Saudi student at a private college in Jeddah.

“However, we’ve decided to go elsewhere during the summer because my friends and I have suffered unprecedented harassment. Most Saudi youths think we visit malls to look for relationships. They don’t understand that we just want some time to ourselves and enjoy the summer,” she added.