Police chase hundreds of 'ghost-hunters'

Hundreds of young Saudi men, some wearing horror masks, attacked a deserted building with torches and flash lights on late Monday in response to online calls to chase ghosts believed to be living inside before they were evicted and chased by a large Saudi security force.

The men set the building on fire before fleeing the site after they were chased by scores of baton-wielding police men and security agents in the conservative Moslem Gulf kingdom.

“Hundreds of young men entered the building which was a hospital 26 years ago….they were responding to calls on BlackBerry phones and social networks to go into the building and check rumours that it is haunted,” the Saudi Arabic language daily Sabq said in a report from Riyadh.

“Some of them set part of the building ablaze before fleeing when police raided the place…all of them were evicted while the fire was put out later.”

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