Valentine’s Day Cuddles to the Saudi Religious Police

Religious police (clearly in need of some attention) in Saudi Arabia are banning the sale of Valentine's Day gifts including red roses. The Saudi Gazette (!!!) quoted shop workers as saying officials had warned them to remove all red items including flowers and wrapping paper.

Black market prices for roses were already rising, the paper said.

Saudi authorities consider Valentine's Day, along with a host of other annual celebrations, as un-Islamic.

In addition to the prohibition on celebrating non-Islamic festivals, the authorities consider Valentine's Day as encouraging relations between men and women outside wedlock.

"Sometimes we deliver the bouquets in the middle of the night or early morning, to avoid suspicion," one florist was quoted as saying.

Others were planning to travel to the more religiously liberal neighboring countries, Bahrain or the United Arab Emirates, to celebrate.

Saudi Arabian authorities impose a strict Islamic code that prevents men and women from mixing.