RIYADH - Red roses lurk hidden in flower shop back rooms and heart-shaped chocolates are sold under the counter, but Saudis still manage to buy Valentine’s gifts and defy the religious police.
Florist Hussein came up with a simple solution to a ban on red tokens of love: he filled his window with white roses, orange irises and violet hydrangeas. “I’ve hidden everything red in the shop, so when a religious police patrol comes along, they find nothing to complain about,” he said.
Anti-Valentine’s Day patrols by the Muttawa religious police - formally known as the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice - started on Wednesday. They began entering premises stocking chocolates, flowers and souvenirs to warn proprietors against selling anything red or heart-shaped and linked to the annual “infidel celebration” of matters romantic.