The al-Eqtisadiah daily said firemen scuffled with members of the religious police, also known as "mutaween," after they tried to keep the girls inside the burning building because they did not wear head scarves and abayas (black robes) as required by the kingdom's strict interpretation of Islam.
The English-language Saudi Gazette, in a front-page report on Thursday, quoted witnesses as saying that members of the police, known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, had stopped men who tried to help the girls warning "it is a sinful to approach them."
One civil defence officer told al-Eqtisadiah he saw three members of the religious police "beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya."
"We told them that the situation was very critical and did not allow for such behaviour. But they shouted at us and refused to move away from the gates," the newspaper quoted the officer as saying.
At least fifteen students were killed in the fire.
You may recall another country that maintained a "Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice." That was Afghanistan....
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