Thousands of Catholics protest in Paris over "blasphemous" play

Dec 11, 2011, 21:00 GMT

Paris - Around 2,000 Roman Catholic traditionalists demonstrated Sunday in Paris over the staging of what they consider a blasphemous play depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

Holding banners with slogans such as 'France is Christian and must remain so,' and 'That's enough Christianophobia,' the demonstrators marched on the Theatre du Rond-Point to denounce Golgota Picnic, a play by Argentinian playwright Rodrigo Garcia that premiered last week.

The demonstrators from across France and some neighbouring countries, according to media reports, say the play, which includes a gory crucifixion scene, is blasphemous.

Police estimated around 2,000 people took part in the demonstration. The organizers estimated there were double that number.

As they marched, a few hundred people on the other side of the Seine River held a counterdemonstration against what they called an attempt by Christian traditionalists to impose a 'moral order.'

'No to censorship, all for culture,' and 'Our freedom against their moral order,' they chanted.

Sunday's demonstration is the latest in a series of protests against cultural displays that the Catholic group Institut Caritas accuses of demeaning Jesus.

At an exhibition in April in the southern city of Avignon, a group of Christian fundamentalists armed with hammers and screwdrivers destroyed two artworks, one of which depicted a crucifix immersed in urine.

In October, placard-wielding protesters in Paris burst into performances of a play entitled On the Concept of the Face of the Son of God, by Italian director Romeo Castellucci.

The play showed a son cleaning up after his incontinent father in front of a huge image of Christ.

Reacting to Sunday's protests, French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterand said that while he was 'very attached to the Christian tradition' in France, the right to freedom of thought and the separation of church and state needed to be protected 'at all costs.'