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By Scott T. Sterling
A Saudi Arabian teen found himself in police custody after doing the “Macarena” dance in traffic. Yes, you read that correctly.
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The incident was caught on camera (of course) when the 14-year-old strolled into an intersection in the Red Sea city of Jiddah to get his groove on to the 1993 hit by Los del Río. Western music and dancing are strictly banned in Saudi Arabia.
According to ABC News, the state-linked Al-Riyadh website quoted Col. Aati bin Attiyah al-Qurashi as saying the Arab national teenager was brought to the police station with his dad, who signed a pledge promising to protect his son and not violate public morals. Al-Qurashi added that the boy was then soon released from custody.
While police said that the video was over a year old, renewed attention from it going viral this week is what prompted the teen to be detained “for disrupting traffic and improper public behavior.”
“The notification was solely intended to warn the boy about potential consequences for his own safety, as well as to safeguard the overall safety of motorists and pedestrians,” a spokesman told CNN.
