Saudi Prince Arrested For Showing Abusive Behavior with Citizens As King Salman Order's

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 Saudi Arabia's King Salman ordered the arrest of a prince and his associates on Wednesday after videos emerged which appear to show the prince engaging in abusive behavior against citizens.

 In the footage, which was published on YouTube, the young and low-level prince can be seen pointing a weapon toward one man and slapping another victim. Other clips appear to show bottles of whiskey in a possible violation of the country's alcohol consumption and sales ban.

 King Salman's arrest warrant came as hundreds of thousands had already viewed the videos online, spreading it under an Arabic hashtag which can be translated as "prince transgresses on citizens."

 The wide online circulation of the clips put pressure on the country's leadership to prosecute the prince, Saudi bin Abdulaziz bin Musaed bin Saud bin Abdulaziz, especially because King Salman had previously emphasized that he generally considers citizens' rights to be of higher value than the protection of royals' privileges. 

 Although Saudi princes receive a monthly allowance and hold a special status, they can be prosecuted by courts.

 In his arrest order on Wednesday, King Salman urged Saudis to report other possible cases of abuse of power to authorities. As governor of Riyadh between 1963 and 2011, he reportedly oversaw the prosecution of royals who had broken the law, and acted as a referee in family disputes.

 His private jail, located on his palace grounds, was believed to be specifically reserved for princes. At the time, there appeared to be few royals interested in pursuing the prosecution of members of the royal family, apart from the governor.

 "Who else was going to discipline a prince?" Robert Lacey, a British author who has written extensively about the Saudi royal family, told my colleague Kevin Sullivan in 2015. "Salman has great authority within the family. 

He is beloved and feared." Amid reports of infighting in the Saudi royal family, King Salman has recently attempted to cement his own power despite a potentially gloomy economic outlook and geopolitical woes. 

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