JEDDAH, 3 May 2005 — People of a village in Al-Laith province are demanding that the municipality take urgent steps to protect their local cemetery. The graveyard lacks a security fence, which has led to some brutal break-ins by both humans and animals.
Complaints came from people who have their family members buried in the graveyard that is 40 km east of Al-Laith near the Hot Water Village, according to Al-Watan daily.
The cemetery became a dumping site for old cars and a home for wild animals. Because there is no security fence, the cemetery became a road for many camels and cars defiling the sacredness of the buried people. People became upset watching what happened to their loved ones buried there.
“The sanctity of a buried person should not differ from his sanctity while he is alive,” said Mohammad Al-Barakati, who has a relative interred there. This problem is neither new nor uncommon. It happens to many other area cemeteries.
Saeed Al-Mahdawi, an Al-Laith citizen, put full responsibility on the Municipal Council for not building a fence to secure the cemetery.
Muhammad Al-Neiri suggested people themselves team up to pay and build a fence around the cemetery. He explained that was done before, but unfortunately the barrier couldn’t endure the wind and the moving sands.
“We have already made land surveys for that place. This project was put into consideration in the list of top priorities,” said architect Talei Al-Muwallad. He also noted that the Municipal Council is researching on the subject to erect suitable fences around the graveyard. He said part of the reason for the delay is that the council had no records regarding the older graves.
