Monday, June 27 2005 14:54 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: A Sikh couple had to abandon their wedding after a group of Sikh protesters stormed the hotel where the ceremony was being held alleging that they had shown disrespect towards their holy book, police said today (Jun 27, 2005).

The couple, who did not want to be named, watched helplessly as about 40 members of 'Respect to Guru Granth Sahib Ji Campaign' violently interrupted the wedding at a hotel in Slough, Berkshire on Saturday (Jun 25, 2005).

The group claimed that the Sikh holy book should not have been brought to a place where alcohol, meat and cigarettes were available.

The priest fell to the ground in a scuffle with the protestors and the gang fled with the Guru Granth Sahib Ji which was to be used in the service and took it to a Gurdwara in Slough.

After police restored calm, they stood guard at the hotel overnight as managers met to discuss another wedding planned for yesterday (Jun 26, 2005). A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said, "Apparently a compromise has been reached by both sides over the holy book used for the service and a 'semi-holy book ' is to be used instead. No one was injured in the incident on Saturday and there have been no arrests."

"As a result of what happened there is a lot of work for the police with the Sikh community. Our community and race relations officers will be working hard in Slough in the next week or so," he said.

This is the second time that members of the group have disrupted a wedding for religious reasons. Two weeks ago the group staged a "confiscation raid" during a wedding in Ilford, east London.