Protest Calls on Women to Defy Law, Drive in Saudi Arabia

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Saudi activists have launched a campaign calling for the lifting of Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving. The protest, Reuters reports, urges women to defy Saudi law and get behind the wheel and drive on October 26th. As part of the campaign, an online petition, Oct 26 Driving, was started on Saturday and has collected some 11,000 signatures, according to CNN. “[T]here is no justification for the Saudi government to prohibit adult women citizens who are capable of driving cars from doing so,” the petition reads. “We as a Saudi people are diverse and accepting of all views that are not prohibited in the Quran or by the Prophet.” There are no explicit laws in the country banning women drivers, but the government does not issue driving licenses to women, making it, in effect, illegal for them to drive. The protest comes after two recent attempts to overturn the de facto ban on women drivers that proved unsuccessful, after authorities detained several women, who were made to sign pledges not to drive again, according to Reuters.