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gorkomi
Joined: 24 Aug 2009
Posts: 142
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 Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 8:19 pm Post subject: Saudi National Day |
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Did you have a good time?
My Saudi friend in Riyadh sent me a youtube video of a mob of young Saudis in Riyadh on National Day. They stormed up to Pizza Hut while there were customers inside and smashed the windows. My friend wrote "Please, government, give these idiots something to do in this boring ass city- give them freedom- so they will stop doing stupid s*** like this." |
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manowur
Joined: 30 Oct 2008
Posts: 68
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| Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 8:40 pm Post subject: |
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| Can you post the link? I tried doing a search but couldn't find it. Thanks. |
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gorkomi
Joined: 24 Aug 2009
Posts: 142
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| Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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I'm having trouble getting it to come up as a link.
( اليوم الوطني 1430هـ الخبر ( تكسير المطاعم
Source: www.youtube.com
تصوير مخربها |
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gorkomi
Joined: 24 Aug 2009
Posts: 142
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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| Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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Dear gorkomi,
Boys just want to have fun.
Ever see what happens in a major American city after a sports team wins a national championship?
But I agree wholeheartedly with your friend:
"Please, government, give these idiots something to do in this boring ass city- give them freedom- so they will stop doing stupid s*** like this."
Regards,
John |
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desultude
Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 614
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| Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 12:13 am Post subject: |
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| This is really tragic. I honestly think I would rather be a young woman than a young man in Saudi Arabia. What a f%#ing life. |
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Mia Xanthi
Joined: 13 Mar 2008
Posts: 955
Location: why is my heart still in the Middle East while the rest of me isn't?
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| Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 8:36 pm Post subject: |
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Apparently this happened at the Al Khobar Corniche, and not in Riyadh. Of course, the people in the EP are blaming it on all the holiday visitors from Riyadh.
There are several other videos of this event on youtube, if you are interested. Most of the comments are in Arabic, but the ones that are in English make for interesting reading. |
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desultude
Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 614
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| Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 9:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Mia Xanthi wrote: |
Apparently this happened at the Al Khobar Corniche, and not in Riyadh. Of course, the people in the EP are blaming it on all the holiday visitors from Riyadh.
There are several other videos of this event on youtube, if you are interested. Most of the comments are in Arabic, but the ones that are in English make for interesting reading. |
I thought I recognized the configuration of restaurants- starting with Chili's.
Yeah, not like the boys in the Eastern Province don't have a solid mix of hormones, boredom and sense of entitlement. Add to that potent brew the fact that they have just been fasting for a month and there are really no outlets for their energy
How many of the male students at PMU were killed in stupid car accidents in the last couple of years? Were they all visitors from Riyadh?
Adolescent men can be a problem anywhere, but the complete lack of focus and activities, let alone jobs and girlfriends, and Saudi Arabia has a big problem on its hands. |
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trapezius
Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 1670
Location: Land of Culture of Death & Destruction
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| Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 3:06 am Post subject: |
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http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=126786
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Rioters caused huge losses, Alkhobar businesses claim
DAMMAM: The rampage by a large group of Saudi teenagers in Alkhobar last Wednesday, destroying restaurants, showrooms and shops, caused losses worth millions of riyals, press reports said quoting owners of businesses.
Witnesses said the rioting during the National Day celebrations started after one youth pointed at a fast-food chain, saying, �It�s a supporter of Israel.�
The youths then broke the windows in the restaurant before ransacking nearby showrooms and shops.
Al-Watan Arabic daily said the youths targeted mostly shops of international brands.
Employees and guests at Pizza Hut on Alkhobar Corniche said the youths attacked the fast-food chain, broke its windows and furniture and took bottles of beverage from its refrigerator.
�They came close to the cashier but ran away after seeing police,� an employee told the paper. �After an hour customers started coming back but the youths returned when they saw police had left the scene.�
One employee wondered why the Saudi teenagers took the path of destruction on the day they should have been celebrating an important day for the country. He said the restaurant had suffered big losses as a result of the attack. �We have to close the shop now for repairs and this adds to the losses,� he said.
Starbucks, next to Pizza Hut, was also attacked and its windows were broken.
The coffee shop had to use wooden slabs to cover the window openings.
Dr. Ashraf Shafik, supervisor of a pharmacy that was destroyed, said the youths had taken more than SR20,000 from the cash register.
�I was not able to stop them because they came in a large group,� he said, adding that some of them carried light weapons.
The employee of a showroom that sells expensive gifts and precious stones said his shop had suffered losses of SR4 million as a result of the rampage; the youths, he said, ran off with much of his merchandise.
The owner of a showroom for eyeglasses that came under attack said the youths took away about 1,000 pairs of glasses worth more than SR400,000.
Security sources put the number of youths arrested for the rampage at about 100. They are now in a juvenile correction center in Dammam.
Some of them told Al-Watan that they were innocent and had nothing to with the incidents.
�Police arrested us for being in the area where the rampage took place. We had gone to Alkhobar Corniche to celebrate our holidays,� one of them said. Most of them had no knowledge of the National Day or its significance.
The teenagers urged authorities to provide them with places to spend their time and enjoy their hobbies. They said the clubs in Dammam had closed their doors to them. �I would not have come here all the way from Qassim to spend the Eid if I knew that this would happen,� one youth told the paper. |
I will bet anything that they fasted like good little boys during Ramadan. It is quite shocking, however, that 4 days after finishing fasting and 3 days after celebrating Eid, they turned into animals. Actually, they didn't turn into animals... they already were animals. No matter how much praying and fasting they do, it can't change what they are.
In a case like this, I actually would love to see them flogged in public for their crimes. |
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Middle East Beast
Joined: 05 Mar 2008
Posts: 836
Location: Up a tree
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| Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 3:24 am Post subject: |
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| johnslat wrote: |
Ever see what happens in a major American city after a sports team wins a national championship? |
You just can't help yourself, can you John. You've got to bring the topic/issue/event/tragedy/idiotic action/etc. home. |
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lazycomputerkids
Joined: 22 Sep 2009
Posts: 360
Location: Tabuk
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| Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 3:47 am Post subject: |
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| Middle East Beast wrote: |
| johnslat wrote: |
Ever see what happens in a major American city after a sports team wins a national championship? |
You just can't help yourself, can you John. You've got to bring the topic/issue/event/tragedy/idiotic action/etc. home. |
perspicacity, John has it |
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desultude
Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 614
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| Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 4:08 am Post subject: |
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| lazycomputerkids wrote: |
| Middle East Beast wrote: |
| johnslat wrote: |
Ever see what happens in a major American city after a sports team wins a national championship? |
You just can't help yourself, can you John. You've got to bring the topic/issue/event/tragedy/idiotic action/etc. home. |
perspicacity, John has it |
This does look increasingly political. But so is a lot of stuff that happens anywhere. They were hitting multinational corporations. Ever see the results of anti-globalism riots?
No, heaven forbid anyone try to give perspective or context to events. It is so much more simple(minded) to call people animals and just dismiss it as that. Of course, that solves nothing but it does make you feel better about yourself for not being one of "them", which ever group "them" belongs to that isn't yours. |
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Cleopatra
Joined: 28 Jun 2003
Posts: 3657
Location: Tuamago Archipelago
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| Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 11:19 am Post subject: |
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I agree with John.
This kind of carry on is moronic and stupid, but it's hardly unique to Saudi adolescent boys. In fact, I'd say it's pretty mild compared with what goes on in many other places. There are large cities not far from me right now, where almost the entire policeforce has to be drafted in on certain match days just to keep opposing fans away from each other.
BTW I agree with desultude that, despite what one might think, in many ways it's easier to be a young woman than a young man in KSA. Odd though it may sound, Saudi society caters to their needs much better than it does to the needs of bored young men. |
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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| Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 3:22 pm Post subject: |
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Dear Middle East Beast,
"You just can't help yourself, can you John. You've got to bring the topic/issue/event/tragedy/idiotic action/etc. home."
You're right - it's compulsive. I just can't resist putting stuff in perspective.
I definitely agree that what took place there was vandalism and, of course, quite stupid, dangerous, and destructive.
However, given the tremendous pressures of young Saudi males, the constraints, the extremely high unemployment rate, and the almost complete lack of outlets for recreation/"blowing off steam," what really surprises me is that this sort of thing doesn't happen more often. It's by no means justified - any more than ghetto riots/looting in the States were - but, as with them, it's not at all hard to understand why it happened.
So, yup - I can't help myself. STOP ME BEFORE I DO IT AGAIN - NOT. 
Regards,
John |
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desultude
Joined: 19 Jan 2003
Posts: 614
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| Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 3:52 pm Post subject: |
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| johnslat wrote: |
Dear Middle East Beast,
"You just can't help yourself, can you John. You've got to bring the topic/issue/event/tragedy/idiotic action/etc. home."
You're right - it's compulsive. I just can't resist putting stuff in perspective.
I definitely agree that what took place there was vandalism and, of course, quite stupid, dangerous, and destructive.
However, given the tremendous pressures of young Saudi males, the constraints, the extremely high unemployment rate, and the almost complete lack of outlets for recreation/"blowing off steam," what really surprises me is that this sort of thing doesn't happen more often. It's by no means justified - any more than ghetto riots/looting in the States were - but, as with them, it's not at all hard to understand why it happened.
So, yup - I can't help myself. STOP ME BEFORE I DO IT AGAIN - NOT.
Regards,
John |
You couldn't sound more like your avatar.
Just too thoughtful and reasonable. Where is the hate!?! |
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