Saudi Women Drive Home a Protest

About 50 Saudi women, saying the kingdom’s ban on female drivers would leave them helpless in the event of war, took to the streets for an unprecedented protest Tuesday--behind the wheel.

The women, many of them completely veiled except for their eyes, piled into 15 cars and took a drive through the capital. They had learned to drive outside Saudi Arabia.

“This has nothing whatsoever to do with politics,” one woman said. “If a crisis erupts, we must drive for the sake of our families. We cannot stay immobile like sitting ducks.”

After about 30 minutes, police halted the drive, briefly detaining the women.