The ancient city of Jeddah is being bulldozed

call Muhammad bin Salman, their crown prince and de facto ruler, the Bulldozer. Fly into Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second and most charming city, and vast empty patches scar the landscape. Most of its southern districts and much of its centre have gone. Herds of mechanical diggers paw at the remnants of mosques, schools, factories and blocks of flats. Bustling neighbourhoods are turning into ghost towns as the authorities, without warning, scrawl “”, Arabic for evacuate, in red paint on the walls, then switch off the electricity and water. “It looks like a war zone,” says a Saudi writer. Like Prince Muhammad himself, many of Jeddah’s 4.7m people initially welcomed the bulldozers. They flattened the slums reputedly home to criminal gangs, drug mafias and prostitution rings, as well as the poor quarters housing foreigners doing menial work. Bereft of proper drainage, the city is prone to flooding and needed a facelift. But joy turned to consternation as the bulldozers moved north, levelling old Saudi houses, mosques and handsome villas, and reaching perilously close to the old city, a heritage site.