Thousands of Jeddah residents have launched a class action suit against the Jeddah Municipality for allegedly using toxic gases to disperse rainclouds over Jeddah, a rights activist said here Friday.

Ihab Al-Suleimani also told Arab News that the lawsuit had not been filed by Amnesty International or the Arab Organization for Human Rights, as claimed by some media outlets.

He said the two bodies do not have representatives in Saudi Arabia. However, this did not mean that there are no rights activists in Saudi Arabia working with these organizations.

He said that the media should not lose sight of the fact that the case allegedly involves the use of chemicals over three years that caused various pulmonary diseases including asthma.

He said that the residents have evidence to prove their claim, but do not want to reveal details at this stage. He said the case was proceeding through the Jeddah and Riyadh courts of grievances.

He said the municipality was the primary beneficiary of the alleged use of the chemicals. He said the city was facing other pollution problems including raw sewage overflowing from inadequate drains.

He also called on the Shoura Council to speed up its recommendations on a law that would oversee the functioning of civil society institutions.

The municipality has denied using toxic chemicals to disperse rainclouds over Jeddah to prevent delays of ongoing flood drainage projects.

The Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) had also rejected accusations that it, or any other government body, was doing so.

This follows a Web-based Arabic newspaper, and social networking sites, showing a picture of a plane carrying what appeared to be rocket-shaped containers allegedly filled with gases to disperse rainclouds.

The PME had said the plane was used for cloud seeding, to increase rainfall over some areas including Abha and the central region. It was not used to prevent rainfall.

It said the cloud seeding project had been going on for four years, and urged the public to ignore rumors on the Internet.