An ex-intelligence officer tells the BBC he was permitted to shoot dead those resisting eviction.

Col Rabih Alenezi says he was ordered to evict villagers from a tribe in the Gulf state to make way for The Line, part of the Neom eco-project.

One of them was subsequently shot and killed for protesting against eviction.

The Saudi government and Neom management refused to comment.

Neom, Saudi Arabia’s $500bn (£399bn) eco-region, is part of its Saudi Vision 2030 strategy which aims to diversify the kingdom’s economy away from oil.

Its flagship project, The Line, has been pitched as a car-free city, just 200m (656ft) wide and 170km (106 miles) long - though only 2.4km of the project is reportedly expected to be completed by 2030.

  • @SlopppyEngineerEnglish
    28•8 months ago

    Nobody would talk about it if it was a standard square city. Masdar city is a square design of 6km² for example, also trying to be a hub of future technologies, and most people will go “mass what city?” The Line attracts attention, and with attention often comes money. At least they have the first part right, the second part isn’t working out as they hoped it would.

    • @CosmoNovaEnglish
      40•8 months ago

      Who cares if people talk about it when it‘s doomed to either become an unlivable hellscape or more likely never see completion because it‘s utterly infeasible? They destroy a huge area, waste billions and worst of all throw many lives into a meat grinder just to get some clout by the dumbest idiots on the planet. In the end of the day more people will dislike and look down on them for this moronic project that many knew would never work.

      • @SlopppyEngineerEnglish
        33•8 months ago

        Welcome to late stage capitalism, where billionaires are the pharaohs of old, doing huge constructions sacrificing countless workers just for vanity.