Saudi religious police attacked by girls

Two officers of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Saudi Arabia were attacked by two "inappropriately-dressed" girls, according to an article in the Asharq Alawsat.

According to Dr. Al-Marshood [Head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in the Eastern province], 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 paper reports that the girls were escorted to a police station, where they apologized and were released. Link (Thanks, Coop!)

• [micah]

  i’m fairly sure that those two commission members got told, so it follows that they’re deserving of an “oh, snap!”

  yup. that felt about right. my work here is done.

• [OM]

  …You know, if more women in these Muslim fanatic countries would rise up and fight back against their oppression in this manner, the sooner the rest of the populace would accept the fact that their clerics are complete nutjobs, deservedly put them to the sword, and clear the way for them to join the civilized world.

• [Joe]

  From what I’ve heard about the behavior of the Saudi religious police, I doubt the claim that the young women were “politely advised” about their violation of the rules; those guys play rough, and the pepper spray was probably self-defense.

• [Michael Zed]

  In a “civilized” country those girls would be tossed in the slammer for assaulting an officer with a weapon. Nice to see that an apology still counts for something somewhere.

  And to some of the commenters here: isn’t politeness and showing basic respect a sign of being civilized?

• [Anonymous]

  They didn’t go far enough.

• [yotta]

  It’s nice to know that someone in Saudi Arabia has the balls to do that!

• [phasor3000]

  which then lead to one of the girls pepper-spraying them in the face

  Too bad the girls didn’t have a taser…

• [Rossi]

  Please. Oh please. I beg you. Where is that cell phone video?

  It’s probably safe to assume these girls were not wearing Burqinis.

• [Joe]

  From what I’ve heard about the behavior of the Saudi religious police, I doubt the claim that the young women were “politely advised” about their violation of the rules; those guys play rough, and the pepper spray was probably self-defense.

• [willibro]

  YAY! Please, oh please, find that cell phone movie!

• [june]

  Is it wrong if I hope this is true? The “religious police” can suck it.

• [willibro]

  @MICHAEL ZED
  Showing politeness to cops who tell you how to freakin’ *dress yourself*? Uh, that would be a “no”.

• [anangbhai]

  Muttaween ownage. A female classmate from Iran told me the religious police frequently do that a lot and its a running joke that the department is filled with people who just want to goggle at cleavage all day long in the name of protecting them from supposed immoral men lurking on every street corner. Guess who IS lurking on every street corner…

• [Anonymous]

  I do not know why the U.S. still deals with these countries because of civil rights.

  Oh, oope, noes, oil; never mind

  I think anyone the least bit concerned about civil rights in general worldwide should just condemn all the ‘sharia’ countries to hell. As in, we won’t do business with you, period.

  Alas, a lot of them are oil-bearing states. Bunch of assholes, who aren’t really adhering to the Koran.

  Or conversely, every Islamic male is so powerless, frantic and debased when seeing any part of a female (iincluding their face or hair) that they should probably be locked up in an institution because of their powerlessness and depravity.. Just saying.

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    If we only do business with countries that don’t have horrible human rights records, who does that leave? Canada?

• [Mitch]

  I don’t think I’ll ever read about someone in
  America apologizing and being released after pepper
  spraying a cop.

  • [Anonymous]

    You sound like someone who does not live here and comment on something you do not know. These ‘people’ – and I use that term broadly for most! – are NOT cops. They are not police officers sworn to protect and serve. These are rude, self important jerks walking the streets insulting and publicly humiliating women who might have a head scarf out of place or abaya flying open with the wind, or sitting or standing in the wrong place or in one place too long, or any number of the many many similarily horrifying offenses that single women out alone might be accused of. Anyone who has run up with a (matawa) commissioner of vice and virtue KNOWs they didnt ask ‘politely’ They probably had a bull horn yelling out insults and usually are not alone which is very intimidating! More likely than not, he deserved what he got. It is nice to see women starting to defend themselves against these harrassing men….besides the fact it is overlooked that these men are BREAKING THE LAW by approaching and speaking to single unprotected women on the street…but everyone seems to overlook that fact.

• [CC]

  ‘…deservedly put them to the sword, and clear the way for them to join the civilized world.’

  Your contradiction tastes delicious with my morning coffee.

• [willibro]

  Mr. Zed, I think the only person who has used a stereotypical term for arabic people on this thread is you.

• [Anonymous]

  I’m pretty damn sure you don’t “get released” after apologizing for spraying a cop with pepper spray.

• [iain010100]

  I found a cell phone picture of one of the cops:
  

• [Anonymous]

  Yes, please, where’s the phone video?

  Just got done reading Robert Baer’s books, and this story just about neutralized my fears, well, at least some hopes there.

  Perhaps King Abdallah is a different sort after all.

• [Cpt. Tim]

  just another example of how religion is outdated and uneeded. None of the good things religion can bring are exclusive to religion. If you want to be modest, be modest. I know plenty of modest athiests. But if you DON’T want to be modest, you don’t need the god squad taking you aside in public.

• [iain010100]

  Cop image:
  http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/entertainment_itv_at_50/img/7.jpg

• [Michael Zed]

  @Willibro, by politeness I meant not hopping on a public forum and repeating all kinds of stereotyped crap about the Ay-rabs. The comments here sound like an elementary schoolyard in the 1960s.

• [phasor3000]

  Yes, the press in Saudi Arabia is so much more truthful and reliable than the evil Zionist-controlled American media. And women have more rights, and there’s a lot more religious freedom and tolerance of gays and lesbians… all the things you would expect from a fundamentalist Islamic society operating under sharia law.

• [nex]

  I don’t think they were proper cops, or were they?

• [dculberson]

  Re: being released… there are actually ways in which other societies are more free than America, believe it or not.

  Not saying it’s OK how they oppress women! Just sayin’…

• [phasor3000]

  If the cops did let them go unharmed, it was probably to release them to their father or husband, who very likely beat them for dishonoring their families so publicly. If they’re “lucky” they won’t end up as victims of a so-called honor killing.

• [Gag Halfrunt]

  In Azar Nafisi’s Reading Lolita in Tehran, there’s an anecdote about a security guard at Tehran University who reports a woman for eating an apple ‘lasciviously’. The implication is that the guard is projecting onto the woman his own sexual excitement at watching her eat.

• [Teresa Nielsen Hayden/Moderator]

  I don’t think any of those bad things necessarily happened to the girls, if the CPVPV has been making itself obnoxious. The prude getting a comeuppance after demanding that law enforcement Do Something about a harmless situation is a staple of 19th Century American humor.