February 12, 2008	Tuesday	Safar 04 ,1429

RIYADH, Feb 11: Saudi Arabia’s religious police have banned red roses ahead of Valentine’s Day, forcing couples in the country to think of new ways to show their love.

The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has ordered florists and gift shop owners in the capital Riyadh to remove any items coloured scarlet, which is widely seen as symbolising love, newspapers said.

“They visited us last night,” the Saudi Gazette quoted an unidentified florist as saying.

It is not unusual for the Saudi vice squad to clamp down ahead of Valentine’s Day.—Reuters