Several traders opened for business on Friday and Saturday here because they did not expect government officials to carry out raids over the weekend.

The downtown area in Balad was crowded as hundreds of expatriates also turned up to do their shopping for food and other items.

However, many stores and restaurants remained closed in other areas of the city following raids earlier in the week by government inspectors.

Lt. Nawaf Al-Bouq, spokesman of the Jeddah police, told Arab News: “We will continue to raid districts and arrest illegal expats. However, the raids would slow down at the weekend.”

The Kingdom’s commercial districts have taken a beating as businesses struggle to staff shops and supply vendor operations.

Abdullah Abu Rashed, a Yemeni resident who has a mobile store in downtown Jeddah, told Arab News businesses had a “hard time” over the last three days.

“We closed our stores because we were afraid of the raids, which also scared customers away. Most of our customers are illegal workers and they stayed at home to avoid arrest.

“However, we were surprised there were no raids on the first weekend after the security campaign was launched. Many customers started to visit shops and restaurants in this area. We also opened our doors to try to compensate for losses over the last three days,” Abu Rashed said.

Police arrested dozens of workers for not having proper documents on Wednesday morning at Jeddah’s vegetable market. Two busloads of inspectors from the passport, police and labor departments, and representatives of the governorate, positioned themselves on either side of the market.

The central vegetable market is a commercial hub where expatriates run businesses on behalf of Saudi employers. It is a major hub of the consumer food business in the city.