MAKKAH: Volunteers are engaged in on a two-week scheme of whitewashing to erase from Makkah's walls the mass of graffiti which locals complain has become a ubiquitous feature of the city. Work began last Monday in the Al-Otaibiya District, and locals of all ages are helping out to rid public spaces of what are frequently “rude and inappropriate” scribblings from the sides of houses and perimeter walls. “There's this one guy who's obsessed with the letter of his car registration – q-f-s – and has written them all over the place in different sizes and colors, and not just in this district but in others as well,” one volunteer told Al-Watan Arabic daily. “There's another person who lives here who when he was younger became obsessed with the phrase ‘I woke up this morning…' and when he got older he started writing it on every wall in every district.” One young boy with brush in hand and bucket of whitewash beside him said that a lot of the graffiti was “rude and inappropriate”, and had some advice for persons unable to keep their thoughts to themselves. “People who want to write stuff should write it down nicely and politely on a piece of paper or in notebooks,” he said. “They should leave walls as they are so that the areas we live in are left nice and attractive.” Talal Abu Al-Nour who is running the scheme described graffiti as an “affront to the property of others”. “It sullies and damages that property, and it costs the owner a lot of money to paint over it,” he said. “This scheme to rid the walls of inappropriate writings is one aspect of removing vice, as some of the graffiti targets belief and others are socially unacceptable.” He said that once the walls have been whitewashed they will be used for “socially acceptable artistic murals and Qura'nic verses”. “It will encourage proper behavior and get young people to abandon bad habits,” he said. Local police agreed. “The program will help put an end to inappropriate graffiti and is an effective way of rectifying unwanted behavior,” said an officer from Jarwal Police. “We have all come to help out, and all these youngsters working to clean up the walls will lead to greater respect for other people's property and increase their sense of belonging to the area and encourage them to keep it in good condition.”
