Religious police warned women that using swings would get them molested or harassed

Jan 16, 2014 10:14 GMT  ·  By
The two men representing the religious police warn women about the danger of using swings
   The two men representing the religious police warn women about the danger of using swings

From an array of bans Saudi Arabia has imposed on its citizens, and especially on women, the warning about the use of swings bringing possible molestation or harassment upon women may be the weirdest one yet.

After being banned from driving, traveling without permission, socially mixing, nonreligious attire and many others, now the women of Saudi Arabia are warned not to use swing-sets. The feared religious police entered a public park in the Gulf Kingdom and instructed women to stop using the swing because they drew attention and, most of all, criticism from viewers.

The incident showing the religious police officers warning the women at the swings was photographed and went viral on social networks. One local newspaper, Al Sada, published the picture of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice men warning the fully-covered women about their somehow indecent behavior.

The newspaper wrote that the Commission's supporters agreed with the warning and the fact that women using swings could transmit the wrong message to men and encourage them to “harass or molest them.”

Other people were actually shocked by the happening and believed the act to be “not acceptable as it amounted to an unjustified interference and repression of women by the Commission,” Emirates 24/7 explains.

As bizarre as it may seem, this is actually a common thing happening in Saudi Arabia due to the extremely strict rules imposed by the religious police. Just weeks ago, the police shut down a restaurant for allowing gender mixing.

The members of the Commission raided the restaurant from Jeddah, Red Sea area, and ordered its permanent shutdown for allowing mixing between men and women, obscene TV channels and shisha in closed places.

But there is not only bad news for women in Saudi Arabia, as a few days ago the country's passport office suspended the controversial program that notified women's guardians about their traveling, even when they were together, via text message.

In order for women to travel outside the country, they need official permission from their guardians – husband, father, brother or son – and even so, their every moves are still tracked. The SMS tracker was removed, for now, because it is very likely to be reintroduced, in a more updated form.