According to police, the man had tried to set himself alight with gasoline, but was arrested before he could do so.
A video of staff cleaning the Holy Kaaba after a man tried to set himself ablaze has surfaced online (read report here).
The video shows two men at the Kaaba, one of them wiping the surface clean with a white cloth while the other is seen pouring a cleaning solution on the Kaaba.
According to Saudi Arabia police, the man had tried to set himself alight with gasoline, but was arrested before he could do so.
“His actions suggest that he is mentally ill,” the mosque’s police service said in a statement, adding without elaborating that police would take measures to address the incident. Police said the man was in his 40s.
A video clip circulating on social media showed a man being hustled away from the Kaaba by pilgrims and security guards.
