Manama: Seven young men who offered free kisses at a commercial mall in eastern Saudi Arabia have been arrested.
The men were carrying a placard saying “Free Kisses” at the mall in Dhahran when they were detained, local news site Sabq reported.
Sources said that they were aged between 16 and 20 and that they were referred to the competent authorities after they offended public order by offering kisses to strangers.
Malls are the largest crowd pullers in Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday, two young men were arrested in the capital Riyadh for carrying a placard saying “Free Hugs” on a busy street.
Religious scholars attributed the idea of offering free hugs or kisses to the “low standards of education” and to the “weak awareness programmes presented by religious societies.”
“This is an aberrant behaviour and an invitation to decadence,” the scholars said, local media reported.
