Riyadh: Two people were arrested on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia after a woman’s car was set on fire.
Authorities in Makkah said one of the men bought petrol at a garage and asked the other to help him set the car alight.
Salma AL Sherif, a 31-year-old cashier based near the holy city of Makkah, told local media that her car had been deliberately set alight.
Sherif said she faced abuse from men in her neighbourhood soon after she began driving.
"Half of my salary of 4,000 riyals was spent on a driver to take me to my workplace and drive my elderly parents," Sherif told Okaz newspaper.
"But from the first day of driving I was subjected to insults from men."
A video was taken by Salma to document the incident, circulated around social media, Salma can be heard crying in the background for her new car, which was still not fully paid for.
Sherif received an outpouring of support from Saudis on social media, with many posting pictures of her burning vehicle and denouncing the attack.
The Vice President of the Municipal Council of Makkah Fahad Al Ruqi announced that Salma will be compensated with a new car.
Al Ruqi said in a tweet: “The citizen will be compensated by a new car because of her social and financial conditions.”
On June 24, women celebrated taking the wheel for the first time in decades as the kingdom overturned ban on female drivers.
Some 120,000 women have applied for driving licences, according to an interior ministry spokesman, but it remains unclear how many have been issued.
