Groom held in Saudi for shopping mall wedding

An Arab man who got married at his home country returned to Saudi Arabia with his bride and went straight to a shopping mall to stage his wedding party. Minutes later, the Gulf Kingdom’s feared religious police stormed the mall and arrested him.

Scores of relatives and friends waited at the airport for the unnamed bridegroom who arrived with his new wife still in the wedding dress.

The party at the shopping mall in the eastern town of Dhahran attracted hundreds of shoppers before turning into a dancing and singing contest.

A few minutes later, members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice rushed into the mall and dispersed the guests.

“The bride was allowed to leave but the groom was arrested,” Sabq newspaper said, adding that the Commission received instructions from Prince Mohammed bin Fahd, Emir of the Eastern region, to get tough with the groom for breaking the law.

“During interrogation, the groom told Commission members that what he had done was normal and is a common practice in his country.”

Snake in car disrupts power in Saudi street

A snake which found its way into a car disrupted power in a key street in Saudi Arabia after the panicking car driver hit another vehicle before ramming into a power supply box, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The Saudi man was driving back home in the southern Saudi town of Majardah when he saw the snake moving towards him on the front seat.

“The man panicked and lost control of his car…he hit another car then crashed into the main power supply box in the street, disrupting power in the whole area,” Sabq Arabic language daily said, adding that the driver was taken to hospital with medium injuries.

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