The holiday dedicated to love is giving rise to uproar across the Middle East and in Riyadh religious police have forbidden florists to sell gifts which are red in colour.

Riyadh (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Saudi Arabian authorities have put a ban on red roses for St. Valentines day and young Muslim couples will now have to find other symbols with which to show their love.

The Commission for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice, the official name of the religious police or muttawa, has even gone so far as to order florists  and shop keepers in Riyadh to remove all objects which are the colour of love: scarlet red.

The feast of St Valentines seems to threat the virtue that the Commission is doing its utmost to protect in so far as it is a celebration that encourages relationships between men and women in a country where such relationships are persecuted (usually to the detriment of the woman) with worrying frequency.

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