Riyadh, March 04: The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), known as Religious Police in Western media and Hai’a in Saudi Arabia, denied any connection with the group that stormed the Riyadh Book Fair on Wednesday night.
Around 30 men disrupted the second day of the annual Book Fair being organised by the Saudi Ministry of Information. The event was officially inaugurated on Tuesday and opened to the public on Wednesday.
The group claimed that some books on display violate Islam and that men and women should not be allowed to mingle at the fair. Saudi Arabia views this book fair as essential event that reflects its recently-adopted reform and openness policy.
Intellectual excitement
India is the guest of honour in this year’s Riyadh International Book Fair. The Indian ambassador to Saudi Arabia Talmiz Ahmad was earlier quoted as saying that the book fair is an important event and has become part of the intellectual excitement that is prevailing in Saudi Arabia and in the Arab world in general.
Turki Al Shelayel, spokesman of the CPVPV Riyadh branch, told reporters that the group does not belonging to his department.
He added that all his department members carry official identity cards.
“Those who do not carry official ID cards at the book fair have nothing to do with CPVPV,” he clarified.
The group surrounded the Saudi TV booth for more than 90 minutes protesting what it called the presence of female broadcasters covering the event and demanded they leave immediately. They shouted at female presenters asking them to cover their faces, before police intervened.
The group approached Saudi Minister of Culture and Information Dr Abdul Aziz Khoja and told him to fear God for allowing certain types of books in the fair.
-Agencies