Saudi cops stop wedding in public park as bride, groom held hands

Saudi Arabia’s religious police raided a park in the Gulf Kingdom and stopped a wedding they considered as a violation of conservative local traditions.

Hundreds of visitors to the park south of the capital Riyadh surrounded the newly-wed Egyptian couple to take part in the party before members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice entered the park and stopped the event.

“A source in the Commission said the wedding was stopped because it violated local traditions as the bride was not covering her face and the groom was holding her hand and hugging her sometimes,” Ajel newspaper said.

42 arrested for mixed-gender party

Saudi Arabia’s Islamic police raided a house and rounded up 42 Asian men and women for staging an illegal mixed-gender birthday party, a newspaper in the oil-rich Gulf Kingdom reported.

Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stormed the house in the southern town of Bani Amro after receiving phone calls from local residents about the party, Okaz reported earlier in June.

“The raid resulted in the arrest of 30 men and 12 women from east Asia for staging an illegal mixed-gender party,” the Arabic language daily said, quoting police spokesman Major Abdullah Alshaatan.

30 busted for camp-fire bash

In May, 2013, Saudi Arabia’s religious police arrested 30 people, including Westerners and Saudis, after they were caught having a mixed-gender party involving alcohol and drugs, a newspaper had reported.

Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice raided a night camp outside the capital Riyadh lit by movie-inspired fire torches and seized 30 people from 11 nationalities, some of whom were in varours states of undress.

Sabq newspaper, quoting a Commission member, said three men were caught having sex with women inside a tent while others were seized with drugs.

“They were having drugs and alcoholic drinks and some of them were moving and dancing to strange music,” the paper quoted the unnamed member as saying.

“Many of them were dancing around a fire as part of their Satanic rituals. Unfortunately, some of them were Saudis.”

 The paper said those arrested were from the United States, Europe, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries.

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