Video: Saudi woman fights back against harasser with broom

Twitter users in Saudi Arabia were enthralled on Wednesday by a short video clip reportedly showing a Saudi woman attacking her harasser in a mall in Dammam, east Saudi in the east of the Kingdom.

The 15-second security footage shows a woman hitting a man - who had been allegedly harrassing her - on the head with a broom.

The video has gone viral on social media, accompanied by  the Arabic-language hashtag #WomanAttacksHarasserInDamam.

Many social media users took the opportunity to call for the government to enact anti-harassment laws, which do not exist in most of the Gulf countries.

"Incidents of sexual harassment have increased and there is no specific explicit law that can be applied against harassers. She had no other option but to take matters into her own hands to stop his filth," said one Saudi Twitter user.

Saudi Arabia currently has no anti-sexual harassment law set in stone.

Last year, a draft law was proposed to the Consultative Assembly but it was dropped because some members thought it would lead to men and women "mixing together".

Other users commended the woman for sticking up for herself.

"Someone harassing you? Go after them and defend yourself, don't wait for a court's decision,” said Saud al-Shammari.

In a minute-long video uploaded to YouTube last month, two young Saudi women walking along Jeddah's waterfront promenade - western Saudi Arabia - were jeered at and followed by a group of young men.

The video went viral and set off a rare public debate about the rights of women in a country.

Saudi Arabia upholds some of the strictest gender segregation laws in the world, intended to prevent the mixing of sexes.

Saudi Arabia's justice ministry has recorded 3,982 cases of sexual harassment over the last two years.

However, this figure also includes cases of sexual assault and abuse, since there is no legal definition of what constitutes sexual harassment in Saudi Arabia.

A recent study conducted by the Islamic University in Madinah revealed the number of unwed women in Saudi Arabia has risen to four million, a massive jump from the 1.5 single Saudi ladies over the age of 30 just five years ago.