When bulldozers bulldozed his family’s “dream” home in Jeddah, the Saudi doctor still had 15 years remaining on the loan he used to build it, turning his life into “hell.”

The operation was part of a $20 billion clearance and construction project in Saudi Arabia’s second city, which is expected to relocate half a million people and has sparked rare public outrage in the kingdom.

Authorities describe the initiative as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s latest ambitious project, which will replace “slums” with amenities like as a stadium, an oceanarium, and an opera theatre.

Residents in coastal Jeddah, where smashed concrete and twisted metal now fill damaged streets, scoff at government assessments of their vanished neighbourhoods as unwanted drug and crime hotspots.

Instead, they accuse the government of ruining Jeddah’s status as the country’s most open destination by eliminating lively, varied working-class districts.

“In our own city, we’ve become foreigners.” “We are in a state of anguish and bitterness,” said the doctor, who is currently renting while paying $400 a month on a personal loan secured by the property on which the house was built.

The doctor, who did not want to be identified — like the other residents in this article — for fear of punishment from the authorities — noted that the chances of renegotiating the loan or claiming compensation remain uncertain.

The demolitions have been put on hold for the holy month of Ramazan, but are expected to resume in May. Officials in Jeddah did not respond to an AFP request for comment on the project.

‘I was kicked out without warning.’
Jeddah, known as the “Gateway to Makkah,” Islam’s holiest city, is a bustling tourist destination with seaside restaurants and galleries that has hosted a major film festival and a Formula One Grand Prix in recent months.

The city on the Red Sea coast had a level of freedom that helped give birth to its motto: “Jeddah ghair,” or “Jeddah is different,” even before Prince Mohammed started on a social liberalisation effort to soften his country’s image.

However, the demolitions risk inflaming anti-government sentiment in the more than 30 neighbourhoods targeted, many of which were home to a mix of Saudis and immigrants from other Arab countries and Asia.

According to ALQST for Human Rights, evicted homeowners have been living in their homes for up to 60 years.

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Some were evicted when their power and water were turned off, and others were threatened with jail for violating an eviction order, according to the report.

Security forces took cell phones to prevent footage from getting out in the city’s southern Galil neighbourhood, which saw the initial demolitions last October, according to a resident named Fahd.

“We were immediately and without warning ejected from our houses,” he told AFP.

The story had spread extensively by early this year, with the hashtag “#hadadjeddah,” or “Jeddahdemolition” in Arabic, trending on Twitter.

Online efforts to publicise details of the demolitions have been led by Ali al-Ahmed, a Saudi activist and academic at the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington.

“It is not acceptable to demolish citizens’ homes without their consent and without compensating them at a reasonable price to relocate them,” he stated.

‘It felt like the end of the world was approaching.’
An AFP correspondent spotted many blocks where most buildings had been levelled during a recent visit to one neighbourhood affected by demolitions.

Authorities had written a single word in red on several of those that were still standing: “Evacuate.”

Residents were told to leave with their things and to upload paperwork to a government website to seek for compensation, according to a notice.

Families have been promised compensation, and the Saudi government declared in February that 5,000 replacement housing units would be completed by the end of the year.

Residents interviewed by AFP, even some who were ejected early on, claimed they had received nothing so far and that determining the value of their demolished homes was difficult.

“Months have gone by and I still haven’t received compensation for my house. “I went from being a homeowner to becoming a tenant who couldn’t afford to pay his rent,” Fahd explained.

According to the ALQST study, some households were not given clear instructions on how to file a claim for compensation, or were not informed that it was available.

Officials support the idea, claiming that it will modernise the city by adding 17,000 new residential units while preserving its historic charm.

They continue to degrade the afflicted areas, with Jeddah’s mayor claiming in a television appearance that demolitions struck “a lot of places that were a lot of places that were a lot of places that were a lot of places that were a lot of places that were a lot of places that were a lot of locations

Such descriptions agitate folks like Turki, a Saudi resident of Jeddah who had been living in the house built by his grandpa, where he had grown up and planned to raise his children before the bulldozers and wrecking balls arrived.

Turki returned to see what had happened to the land, and the scene made him cry.

He described the sound of demolition as “everywhere.” “With rubble all around, it felt like the end of the world.”