Posted on 03/14/2002 4:41:08 PM PST by dighton
Add them as the 8th country on the nuclear list.
Riyadh, 12th March 2002The General Presidency of Girls Education said here on Monday that 14 students were killed and 50 injured in a girls school in Makkah following a panic escape attempt after they heard there was a fire in the school.
A statement of the Presidency said that no one died in the fire but the girls rushed to the school gate to escape through the stairway and the victims were trampled to death in the stampede.
The statement pointed out that a fire broke out at about 8 a.m. in the morning in the upper ceiling of stairway of the 31st Intermediate School. The civil defense controlled the fire at its source and prevented it from spreading to classes or other parts of the school.
It explained that the girls rushed to the gate of the school immediately after they had heard about the fire.
Prince Abdulmajeed bin Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Makkah region, visited the school and the injured in the hospital. The Governor ordered formation of a committee to investigate the reasons behind the accident.
The President of the Girls Education, Dr. Ali bin Murshed Al-Murshed also visited the school and the injured.
The General Presidency of Girls Education expressed its grief over the accident, the statement said.
Source: SPA
Saudi religious police 'prevents' rescue of girls from death school
Al-Iqtissadiya quotes civil defence guards are blocked from entering school to aid girls, it would infringe on policy of separation of sexes.
By Suleiman Nimr - RIYADH
Saudi Arabia's religious police stood accused Thursday of preventing the rescue of 14 girls who died in a stampede because an effort to save them would have meant men entering a girls' school or girls leaving without wearing a veil.
Al-Iqtissadiya newspaper quoted witnesses saying the religious police, or "mutawa", who enforces a strict Islamic moral code in the kingdom, "prevented" the girls aged from 13-17 from getting out of the school because they were not wearing the obligatory head veil.
At the same time, civil defence guards were blocked from entering the school to aid the girls because it would have infringed on the policy of separation of the sexes, the daily said.
It demanded "the departure" of the head of female education in Saudi Arabia, Ali Al-Morshed for failing "to apply security rules" in the school of 700 students.
In a letter to Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz published in Okaz newspaper, Saudi writer Abdel Aziz Al-Sowaigh said "the mentality and sterile methods practiced by the department of female education is behind the tragedy."
Police announced that 14 girls were trampled to death and 50 more hurt in the stampede after a fire broke out in the school at Mecca on Monday.
Witnesses reported that the students could not get out of the school as the key to the main gate was kept by a caretaker who was not on the compound at the time.
Girls schools are strictly guarded in Saudi Arabia to prevent men from entering or pupils from leaving without authorisation.
Al-Iqtissadiya quoted a civil defence report as saying "people claiming to be in the religious police ... hampered rescue efforts and prevented the evacuation of students."
However, Civil Defence chief General Saad Al-Towaijri told the daily that his men "faced up to the situation without any hindrance from anyone."
Newspaper quoted civil defence officers, students and witnesses saying a fight erupted at the entrance to the school between police and people who said they were part of the religious police.
One officer said girls without veils had been prevented from "fleeing".
A schoolgirl told the Mecca newspaper Al-Nadwa that "members of the religious police prevented firemen from entering the school," to put out the flames.
"No one died of the fire. The girls rushed to the gate to escape and the victims were trampled to death," a security official said.
Allin da name of Allah. As the Church Lady might wonder...could Allah be....Satan?
Saudi religious police 'prevents' rescue of girls from death school
Al-Iqtissadiya quotes civil defence guards are blocked from entering school to aid girls, it would infringe on policy of separation of sexes.
By Suleiman Nimr - RIYADH
Saudi Arabia's religious police stood accused Thursday of preventing the rescue of 14 girls who died in a stampede because an effort to save them would have meant men entering a girls' school or girls leaving without wearing a veil.
Al-Iqtissadiya newspaper quoted witnesses saying the religious police, or "mutawa", who enforces a strict Islamic moral code in the kingdom, "prevented" the girls aged from 13-17 from getting out of the school because they were not wearing the obligatory head veil.
At the same time, civil defence guards were blocked from entering the school to aid the girls because it would have infringed on the policy of separation of the sexes, the daily said.
It demanded "the departure" of the head of female education in Saudi Arabia, Ali Al-Morshed for failing "to apply security rules" in the school of 700 students.
In a letter to Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz published in Okaz newspaper, Saudi writer Abdel Aziz Al-Sowaigh said "the mentality and sterile methods practiced by the department of female education is behind the tragedy."
Police announced that 14 girls were trampled to death and 50 more hurt in the stampede after a fire broke out in the school at Mecca on Monday.
Witnesses reported that the students could not get out of the school as the key to the main gate was kept by a caretaker who was not on the compound at the time.
Girls schools are strictly guarded in Saudi Arabia to prevent men from entering or pupils from leaving without authorisation.
Al-Iqtissadiya quoted a civil defence report as saying "people claiming to be in the religious police ... hampered rescue efforts and prevented the evacuation of students."
However, Civil Defence chief General Saad Al-Towaijri told the daily that his men "faced up to the situation without any hindrance from anyone."
Newspaper quoted civil defence officers, students and witnesses saying a fight erupted at the entrance to the school between police and people who said they were part of the religious police.
One officer said girls without veils had been prevented from "fleeing".
A schoolgirl told the Mecca newspaper Al-Nadwa that "members of the religious police prevented firemen from entering the school," to put out the flames.
"No one died of the fire. The girls rushed to the gate to escape and the victims were trampled to death," a security official said.
Allin da name of Allah. As the Church Lady might wonder...could Allah be....Satan?
Otherwise it's time to kill the bastards who promote this kind of "religion". I'm all done being tolerant.
You appear to be one of the few who understand the basic danger of government, no matter who is running it.
Carolyn
They cannot, themselves, EAT pork, BUT they can SELL the pork to neighboring non-Jews (eg, in Jesus time, to the Roman soldiers)
First it appears the girls were killed in a fire, then it appears they were killed by a stampede, then it appears they were being beaten, then it seems they were locked in a gated compound and burned to death.
If they were killed by the fire, then why weren't the guards restaining them also burnt? If there was a stampede, surely no need existed to beat the girls if the guards wanted to witness their deaths. It's difficult for me to understand the report.
If YOU can't see what's interesting about it, that's YOUR problem. Go squirt ink someplace else.
Tell them there is a lady who wants to make a documentary on Moslem victims.
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