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, the police said on Monday.
The couple, who did not want to be named, watched helplessly as about 40 members of the Respect to Guru Granth Sahib Ji Campaign violently interrupted the wedding at a hotel in Slough, Berkshire on Saturday.
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, which was to be used in the service and took it to a gurdwara in Slough.
After the police restored calm, they stood guard at the hotel overnight as managers met to discuss another wedding planned for Sunday.
A spokesman for the 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.
The men, who scour the Internet for tip-offs about what they consider to be irreligious Sikh weddings across the country, arrived in a hired coach from the Midlands.
When police arrived at the 300-year-old hotel, they found the priest lying in the car park and the prayer book taken away.
The leader of Respect for Guru Granth Sahib Ji Campaign said he and 39 youths travelled from Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, to prevent the wedding.
"We saw on the Internet that a wedding was due to take place at Baylis House, which has a marriage licence," he said.
"We will use any means whatsoever to stop such things from happening. Baylis House should know this is against Sikh laws, but the biggest culprits is the Sikh community itself," he said.
"When we have multi-million pound gurdwaras, which can accommodate up to 1,000 people, why do they need to go out and get married in hotels and the like?" he asked.
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.
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