The newspapers accused members of the religious police — the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the                 Prevention of Vice — of blocking rescue attempts by male firefighters and paramedics because some of the girls were not wearing the mandatory Islamic dress, which covers the              entire body and hair.                        "They forced the girls to remain inside the school and didn't allow them to leave, saying that their hair wasn't covered and they weren't wearing the abaya (long robe)," the            Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper said, citing firefighters and police.