Saudi Women Forbidden to Use Swings at Park

 

An image of two members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice approaching a group of women near a set of swings in a public park in Saudi Arabia has gone viral, reported Akhbaar24 news.

The picture that was shared on social media sites and published in newspapers shows a small group of women sitting on swings approached by some members of the religious police. The religious police told the women to stop using the swings.

 

The action of the religious police has drawn criticism and support from the public. Some people who saw the picture lauded the Hai‘a for warning the women as using the swing could tempt passers-by, especially men, to harass or attack them. Others criticized the move stating that the Commission was unnecessarily interfering and repressing women.

 

 

LWDLIK - Another attempt at removing joy from that dark corner of the world.

 

Reminds me of a trip to Riyadh many years ago I was there for 3 days and thought on day one that I'd go to the shopping mall next door. I, dutifully, put on abaya and hijab and got just outside the hotel when a mutawa (religious police) yelled at me from across the road, "Ya murra, sharitch"  (Oy woman, your hair) and waved a stick at me. Seems I had a bit of fringe showing. I did an about turn and stayed in the hotel for the rest of the trip and didn't go out again. For my second trip to Riyadh I purchased a niqab as well. Thought my female colleague and I were suitably attired for a trip to the mall....Wrong! Within minutes we were being followed and pssst, pssst at. It took a while to figure out how the hell they knew we were foreigners or what we were doing wrong...... We think it was the painted toenails peeking out from under the bottom of the abaya that sent them wild with desire. No shopping, no further trips to Saudia.