RIYADH – Restaurants and cafes in Saudi Arabia are no longer required tohave gender-segregated entrances, officials said, in a further easing ofsocial restrictions in the Islamic kingdom.
Eateries have long required one entrance for single men and another forwomen and families, in a country where the once-powerful religious policezealously enforced gender segregation in public places for decades.
The ministry of municipalities and rural affairs said on Twitter Sunday itwas eliminating several requirements for restaurants, including the needfor “an entrance for bachelors and a separate entrance for families”.
It was unclear whether a restriction on seating inside restaurants willalso be removed.
Restaurants are currently segregated into a “family” section for thoseaccompanied by women and a “singles” area for men, though many have quietlytaken down the barriers in recent years amid the kingdom’s sweepingliberalisation drive.
The latest reform was hailed by young Saudis but dismissed byarch-conservatives on social media, with one Twitter user saying it went”against sharia”, or Islamic law.——————————
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Saudi Arabia’s ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has sought toproject a moderate, business-friendly image of his kingdom as he seeks toboost investment.
Prince Mohammed has clipped the powers of hardline clerics as he pursues amodernisation drive that has allowed mixed-gender music concerts and endeddecades-long bans on cinemas and women drivers.
Until three years ago, the religious police elicited widespread fear in thekingdom, chasing men and women out of malls to pray and berating anyoneseen mingling with the opposite sex.
The hardline enforcers of public morality, whose powers began waning evenbefore Prince Mohammed rose to power, are now largely out of sight.
But the reforms have been accompanied by a crackdown on activists,including women urging faster reform, some of whom have accusedinterrogators of sexual harassment and torture. Saudi prosecutors deny theaccusations. -APP/AFP
