A 40-year-old man was arrested for setting fire to his own truck on Monday in anger over the demolition of his house on government-owned land in Taif, authorities said.
The man was shown on a YouTube video setting fire to his 2013 Hilux pickup truck and calling on spectators to film his action.
Authorities had earlier destroyed small houses and walls surrounding government plots in Al-Saeel Al-Kabeer area, north of Taif governorate, Maj. Saleem Al-Rabie, spokesman of the Taif Police told Arab News. The houses were built without ownership titles, he said.
Some building sites were left alone because women and children were acting as human shields by remaining inside and surrounding the structures, Al-Rabie said.
Saudi law outlaws any building without municipal permission for urban planning reasons.
“See why I did this,” the man said, while holding a bottle filled with gasoline and repeatedly asking the people around him to film it.
"The man has a criminal record and tried to stop the demolition order with his irresponsible behavior," Al-Rabie said.
“See how they destroyed his house with his family watching,” said the person filming the ruins of what appeared to be a two-room house in a deserted area.
Spectators were seen debating with an official, who introduced himself as a representative of the Taif police. “I don’t understand the wisdom of this (man’s action to burn his own car),” the official said. “It’s the wisdom of the wronged,” one man replied.
The man was later arrested and taken to Al-Saeel police station for trying to stop the execution of a government order, Al-Rabie said.
