Saudi authorities detained six women for driving cars in the capital in defiance of laws allowing only male motorists on the conservative kingdom's roads.
Saudi Arabia has no formal ban on women driving. But as citizens must use only Saudi-issued licences in the country, and as these are issued only to men, women drivers are anathema. Outcry at the segregation, which contributes to the general cloistering of Saudi women, has been fuelled by social media interest in two would-be female motorists arrested last month.