Middle East News

Religious police arrest 10 "emo" girls in eastern Saudi Arabia

May 22, 2010, 13:14 GMT

Riyadh - Saudi religious police arrested 10 girls for being 'emo' in a coffee shop in the eastern city of Dammam, after the shop owner reported them for wearing weird fashions and making a lot of noise, a local paper reported Saturday.

A source in the religious police, known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, said the customers noticed the girls 'wore black and dark colours, and that they were trying to imitate men.'

The girls were detained until their parents signed a pledge that they will not repeat 'such violations' and will stay away from fashions that contradict 'the conservative Islamic society,' the source was quoted by al-Yaum newspaper as saying.

Recently there have been several reports about 'individual cases' of young Saudis arrested for adopting the 'emo style.' In April, newspapers reported that a 'gathering of emos in Dammam was foiled' by the religious police.

The emo scene was primarily a style of music that originated in the mid-1980s. Among teens the style features dark clothes, sports shoes, and dark eye makeup.