Saudi Religious Police Attacked by Girls at The Arabist

Saudi Religious Police Attacked by Girls

Saudi Religious Police Attacked by Girls:

Dammam, Asharq Al-Awsat - Members of Khobar’s Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice were the victims of an attack by two Saudi females, Asharq Al-Awsat can reveal.
According to the head of the commission in Khobar, two girls pepper sprayed members of the commission after they had tried to offer them advice.

Head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in the Eastern province Dr. Mohamed bin Marshood al-Marshood, told Asharq Al Awsat that two of the Commission’s employees were verbally insulted and attacked by two inappropriately-dressed females, in the old market in Prince Bandar street, an area usually crowded with shoppers during the month of Ramadan.

According to Dr. Al-Marshood, the two commission members approached the girls in order to “politely” advise and guide them regarding their inappropriate clothing.

Consequently, the two girls started verbally abusing the commission members, which then lead to one of the girls pepper-spraying them in the face as the other girl filmed the incident on her mobile phone, while continuing to hurl insults at them.

The Eastern Province’s head of the commission also revealed that with the help of the police his two employees were able to control the situation.

The two females were then escorted to the police station where they apologized for the attack, were cautioned and then released.

Fantastic.

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Published by arabist September 26th, 2007
Categories: Saudi Arabia, Women.

17 Responses to “Saudi Religious Police Attacked by Girls”

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1 Paul Sep 26th, 2007 at 10:33 am

Is the pepper spray vid on YouTube yet? I can see it being a big hit. fantastic is right.
2 Noor Hammad Sep 26th, 2007 at 12:28 pm

Fantastic indeed. Girls taking the power back Saudi style.

Noor Hammad
3 SP Sep 26th, 2007 at 12:47 pm

*Cheers loudly*

Paul, there are vids on YouTube of Iranian women chasing and telling off their vice and virtue harrassers.
4 Atle Sep 26th, 2007 at 1:02 pm

Excellent. This is the kind of girl power I want to see more!!!
5 Amil Khan Sep 26th, 2007 at 1:03 pm

I cant help but wonder what, “politely advise and guide” really means.

i get the feeling that it comes from the same policing handbook used in Egypt to come out with classics like, “The suspect died tragically of natural causes while police officers were conducting routine questionning that complied with all international standards.”
6 Atle Sep 27th, 2007 at 12:54 pm

SP, could you provide links to the Iranan UTube clips?

cheers
7 SP Sep 27th, 2007 at 9:46 pm

Atle, I was just looking for those clips, pretty sure i first saw them on Global Voices, but don’t see them now. Will post if I find them.
8 SP Sep 27th, 2007 at 9:53 pm

Atle - here you go

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1MWQl6WQA4
9 Robert Sep 30th, 2007 at 8:43 pm

Now that takes courage. Bravo for those women.

Nothing like our armchar rebels in the US who think that they’re being brave by writing “F-Bush” editorials in a college paper (they’ll probably get lucrative job offers from the NY Times”).
10 sj Sep 30th, 2007 at 9:55 pm

Or the ones who think they’re striking a blow for freedom by posting advocacy on the internet from their basements calling for Bush & Cheney to attack Iran.
11 Mitzi Oct 1st, 2007 at 3:09 am

Do any of you really believe these girls were taken to the police station, apologized, and then were released??…Right. I wonder how many lashes they received, and how many of those righteous muslim men raped those girls as punishment for their “immoral” behaviour. That’s how it works way too often. Too bad that George Bush is causing all this trouble.
12 Walter Murdock Oct 1st, 2007 at 5:11 pm

I worked in Riyadh for two years. Those women will have been flogged and turned over to the families where they will be flogged again. And again. They may never see outside those eight-foot-high concrete walls around their houses ever again.

I was one happy dude to finish my contract and vacate the premises.
13 SP Oct 1st, 2007 at 8:05 pm

Actually, given how many complaints there have been against the Saudi religious police recently, with even the regime trying to rein them in, I’d imagine these women were on stronger ground than the commenters above suggest.

Atle, if you’re still reading, check out this anti-hijab Iranian rap song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZAwO-iH-1E
14 Tinderbox Oct 1st, 2007 at 9:40 pm

^^^ Mitzi
Huh? How is George Bush causing Iranian women to be arrested and/or raped? It appears that your Bush hatred is confusing your already wild imagination.
15 Atle Oct 2nd, 2007 at 12:25 pm

Cheers SP. That video gave me a good chuckle.