Freemuse Defending Artistic Freedom
Three theatre performers were stabbed on stage during a live show in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, reported Al Jazeera.
The artists were attacked while performing on stage at the Riyadh Season festival. The performers were wounded but are now in stable conditions.
#Breaking: A video captured in #Riyadh in Saudi Arabia shows a attacker wielding a knife stabbing foreign performers in the theatre. pic.twitter.com/GrcXkXFhfU
— Sotiri Dimpinoudis (@sotiridi) November 11, 2019
The Guardian reports that the police arrested the attacker who was still in possession of a knife.
The motivation for this attack is unclear. The assault is believed to be the first since Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has eased social restrictions and promoted entertainment that was previously banned.
Saudi analyst Ali Shihabi said on Twitter that the government has a zero-tolerance policy for the attacks against the reform.
The risk of this sort of attack against the recent introduction of public entertainment (which many clerics have been inciting against) is a key reason that govt. has pursued a zero tolerance policy towards their public attacks against change and reform. https://t.co/JL3Cqat7QB
— Ali Shihabi (@aliShihabi) November 11, 2019
The Riyadh Season festival held in the King Abdullah Park is a two-month entertainment festival and is claimed to be part of a “broad government push to open up the kingdom to tourists and diversify its economy away from oil.”
Names of the artists and the performance remain unknown.
