US Embassy dismisses rumors on shutdown

The US Embassy in Riyadh denied on Sunday rumors circulating on the social media that the embassy would be closed for two days for security reasons.

August 23, 2015

Layan Damanhouri

 

 

 

Layan Damanhouri

Saudi Gazette staff

 

JEDDAH – The US Embassy in Riyadh denied on Sunday rumors circulating on the social media that the embassy would be closed for two days for security reasons.

 

The rumors started spreading on Twitter with a post at around 9:45 a.m. under a hashtag in Arabic, “US embassy closed in Riyadh.”

 

The post quoting unofficial sources claimed the US Embassy in the Saudi capital city would remain closed for security reasons on Sunday and Monday and visitors would be denied entry.

 

The embassy's official Twitter account responded at 11:16 a.m. with a tweet from Press Attache Johann Schmonsees saying the news was wrong and unfounded and that the embassy was functioning normally.

 

The US Consulate in Jeddah confirmed the embassy’s statement on Twitter.

Twitter users immediately retweeted the embassy’s denial, with comments including “thank God” and “stop posting rumors”. 

August 23, 2015
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