Saudi religious police force gloveless 'indecent' woman to leave shopping mall

A video has gone viral showing a member of the Saudi religious police allegedly preventing a veiled woman from entering a shop since she was not wearing gloves.

The abaya-clad woman is seen arguing with the religious police member who declines her repeated requests to enter a shop in the Barzan Mall located in the northwestern city of Ha'il in the Kingdom because she looks "indecent".

"Walk away... don't say a word... Put on some gloves," the religious police officer allegedly says to the woman, reported AFP News.

Saudi Arabia's Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice is the government body that employs the religious police or Mutaween to encourage the enforcement of Sharia law in the Kingdom.

Local news sites, however, reported the woman was told off for sitting in close proximity to a male shopkeeper.

"There was only one small table separating them and their position prompted the commission member to intervene and to ask her to finish her shopping and leave the shopping area in the northern area of Hael," the source said in a Gulf News report.

The Commission is currently investigating the incident.

"We are looking into what happened and we will take the necessary measures based on the conclusions," said Fahd Al Amer, spokesperson for the commission in Ha'il.

Meanwhile, a shopping mall located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia has gone for an all out ban on people dressed in above-the-knee shorts, pyjamas, messy hair, skates, and those with pets.

"We received complaints about some people wearing clothes that did not follow the customs and traditions of our society. Families had also been upset by smokers," said Fuad Al-Fakhri, manager of the Al Rashid Mall.

Al-Fakhri said the decision follows after a number of people were seen bringing their pets to the mall and dressing un-Islamically.