Writing on the wall for graffiti vandals

ATTENTION all graffiti sprayers and those chalking the walls of Doha city: prepare to be fined for your artwork.

The Doha Municipality has warned that anyone caught creating the “blight” will be fined… substantially.

“Because this type of vandalism is not even on our list of fines, we will fine QR5,000 if anyone is caught,” Municipality’s Public Cleaning Section head Abdullah Nassir al-Qahtani told Gulf Times.

“And anything that is not in our list (which includes violations such as spitting in public, smoking in public, etc) is QR5,000,” al-Qahtani, also a member Central Municipal Council.

No-one has ever been caught or fined, according to him.

The problem was brought to the authority’s attention as complaints from the residents of Doha started mounting. They said the graffiti is causing entrepreneurs to suffer; threatening housing values and hurting the city’s reputation.

And it was not simply love-fuelled graffiti such as “S hearts N” that bothers residents in particular but the abusive, profane words that have started appearing of late on private and public property alike.

Some of the scribbling identified by offended residents include: “lazy boon”, “snoop dog”, “SINGH IS , 2PAC is KING 4 EVER”, and ” lives there ----->”.

Additionally, endorsements such as “Nadi Al Sadd”, “Freej United”, “Nadi Al Rayyan” and character-names the likes of Zorro, Spiderman, and X-Men are also making appearances.

The culprits, identified by al-Qahtani as “bunch of teenagers”, make no distinction between private and public property, in some instances scrawling this proclamations next to mosques (where females also attend).

Hamad Hospital’s emergency entrance gate has also been vandalised with the teenagers “marking their territory” with an “Out of Control MAFIA” chalking.

“These young men are indeed out of control,” a psychiatrist working for the government told Gulf Times, without wanting to be named.

“They are dis-inhibited individuals and are hyperactive with an anti-social personality disorder. They do it to provide an outlet to a hidden aggression and to seek attention.”

As for the “message” and language that is increasingly becoming abusive, the doctor said its “globalisation without any leash for you.”

The municipality will clean the paint off any establishment that approaches it first as “it can’t go and initiate the process because of the possibility of paint colour difference.”

For private homes and residential units, it’s the responsibility of the owner.

“We do have inspectors out there in each area of the city,” al-Qahtani said without elaborating on how they can be contacted.

The city currently has no anti-graffiti efforts planned.