Haia objects to children’s dance

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, or Haia, in the Qasim region has taken exception to a video clip circulating on social networking sites featuring 8-year-old girls dancing during the ongoing Buraidah Spring Festival in Qasim.
The Haia threatened to punish those responsible for the dance video, despite the fact that members of the Haia committee were present when the dance item was included in the festival, and did not object.
Abdullah Mansour, spokesman for the Haia, denounced the video and said in a press statement that those responsible for organizing the event will be held accountable.
Mansour said that the executive director of the festival affirmed to Haia members that this mistake will not be repeated and that the responsible persons will be punished.
Although the video seemed acceptable and innocent at first, later several social networking sites featured the clip and were met with widespread criticism. Some Twitter users expressed their indignation over the clip and described the little girls as "naked women."
Conservatives exchanged angry words on Twitter with those who supported the dance. The supporters said the video is far from being immoral and showed children dancing.
Many commercial centers in Buraidah and Unaiza witness from time to time such festivals and activities where little girls present songs and poems, including the latest held last weekend, but such events in the past never aroused such media clamor.