Valentine's Day crackdown in Iran

Wednesday, February 12, 2003 Posted: 6:31 AM EST (1131 GMT)

Shopkeepers were asked not to show off Valentine cards.

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iranian police have launched a massive crackdown on Valentine's Day celebrations in a bid to limit Western influences.

Shops were ordered to remove heart-themed decorations from their windows and Valentine cards were confiscated.

Plainclothes police began the crackdown on Monday after Valentine products inundated shopping malls in wealthy north Tehran and young people began to show great interest in marking the day.

Valentine's Day and its tradition of exchanging gifts with the opposite sex contradicts conservative morals in a country where contact between unrelated men and women is strongly discouraged.

"Plainclothes police confiscated some of our Valentine Day decorations and told us to remove attractive Valentine cards from our windows. They offered no reason for the crackdown," shopkeeper Shahab Amirkhani said.

Amirkhani's shop is one of many in the sprawling Qaem Shopping Mall, near Tajrish Square, prevented from showing off products for the February 14 holiday.

He said he removed the large "Happy Valentine's Day" decorations from his window but was still meeting "unending demands" from young customers.

"They (the police) are opposed to love and affection," Mina, an 18-year old girl who was buying a Valentine's card for her boyfriend, said. She refused to give her last name.

"They don't want us to be happy because Valentine's Day promotes happiness," she added.

Amirkhani and fellow shopkeeper Hamed Hosseini said they have been told to go to the vice police headquarters in north Tehran, apparently to pledge that they will not sell products promoting Western values.

"Though they are denying us of a brisk business, I'm not looking for trouble. I have to listen to them and remove anything representing the celebration against my wish," Hosseini said.

Amir Rezaei, 23, said the crackdown would backfire: "There are a lot of good things in the Western culture. They can't force people to buy and like what conservatives buy or like. It only creates hatred.

"Police even objected to little mice couple in our window because they were embracing each other."

In Iran, public embracing between men and women is considered taboo.