SAUDI WOMEN REV UP BIKES AS DRIVING BAN TO GO SOON

Riyadh, June 12: Even a year ago, it would have been hard to imagine -Saudi women clad in skinny jeans and Harley Davidson T-shirts, revving motorbikes at a Riyadh sports circuit.

But ahead of the historic lifting of a decadeslong ban on female drivers on June 24, women gather weekly at the privately owned Bikers Skills Institute, to learn how to ride bikes.

“Biking has been a passion ever since I was a kid,” said 31-year-old Noura, who declined to give her real name as she weighs public reactions in the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom.

Overturning the world's only ban on female drivers, long a symbol of repression against women, is the most striking reform yet launched by powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

But it has been overshadowed by a wave of arrests of female activists -- including veteran campaigners who long resisted the ban.

–AFP