DUBAI (AlArabiya.net)
A Saudi girl threatened to stab herself to death after an officer from the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice approached her and her friends to advise them about their dresses he deemed “indecent”.
The three girls were shopping in the Sakaka old market in the northern Saudi province of Al-Jawf.
When the officer rebuked them for their outfits, they got into an argument. One of the girls -- in her early twenties -- bought a knife from a store and threatened to stab herself if any of the Committee's officers came near her, according to Saudi daily Shams.
On seeing this unexpected reaction, the officers called police, and the girls were taken to the police station since they were not accompanied by their guardians at the time of the incident.
Eyewitness Gamal Salam told the paper that one of the girls attacked one of the officers after he insisted that they should leave the marketplace and return home.
Officers from the female police did not come to the scene, the witness added. They met the girls later at the police station.
Media spokesman of Al-Jawf police said that Al-Aziziyah police station received a report from the Committee about the situation. The girls were released pending trial. The case will be referred to the Committee for General Investigations and Prosecutions.
According to the paper, the incident caused a stir in the marketplace with people crowding to take pictures of the row by cell phone.
(Translated from Arabic by Sonia Farid). |
